Assessment of Observational Evidence for Direct Convective Hydration of the Lower Stratosphere

Jensen, E.J., L.L. Ting (Pan), S.B. Honomichl, G.S. Diskin, M. Krämer, N. Spelten, G. Günther, D.F. Hurst, M. Fujiwara, H. Vömel, H.B. Selkirk, J. Suzuki, M.J. Schwartz, and J.B. Smith (2020), Assessment of Observational Evidence for Direct Convective Hydration of the Lower Stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 125, e2020JD032793, doi:10.1029/2020JD032793.
Abstract

In situ and remote sensing observations of water vapor are analyzed to assess the evidence for direct convective hydration of the lower stratosphere. We have examined several hundred balloon‐borne and airborne in situ measurements of lower stratospheric humidity in the tropics and northern midlatitudes. We find that the tropical lower stratospheric H2O enhancements above the background occur quite infrequently, and the height of the enhancements is within about 1 km of the cold‐point tropopause. Following Schwartz et al. (2013, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50421), we examine the anomalously high

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Research Program
Atmospheric Composition
Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP)