Identification

Title

Response of trace gases to the disrupted 2015-2016 quasi-biennial oscillation

Abstract

The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is a quasiperiodic alternation between easterly and westerly zonal winds in the tropical stratosphere, propagating downward from the middle stratosphere to the tropopause with a period that varies from 24 to 32 months ( similar to 28 months on average). The QBO wind oscillations affect the distribution of chemical constituents, such as ozone (O-3), water vapor (H2O), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrochloric acid (HCl), through the QBO-induced meridional circulation. In the 2015-2016 winter, radiosonde observations revealed an anomaly in the downward propagation of the westerly phase, which was disrupted by the upward displacement of the westerly phase from similar to 30 hPa up to 15 hPa and the sudden appearance of easterlies at 40 hPa. Such a disruption is unprecedented in the observational record from 1953 to the present. In this study we show the response of trace gases to this QBO disruption using O-3, HCl, H2O, and temperature from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and total ozone measurements from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) Merged Ozone Data Set (MOD). Results reveal the development of positive anomalies in stratospheric equatorial O-3 and HCl over similar to 50-30 hPa in May-September of 2016 and a substantial decrease in O3 in the subtropics of both hemispheres. The SBUV observations show near-record low levels of column ozone in the subtropics in 2016, resulting in an increase in the surface UV index during northern summer. Furthermore, cold temperature anomalies near the tropical tropopause result in a global decrease in stratospheric water vapor.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d70z75k4

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2017-06-12T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

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version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact