Premium
Ozone Transport‐Radiation Feedbacks in the Tropical Tropopause Layer
Author(s) -
Charlesworth Edward J.,
Birner Thomas,
Albers John R.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl084679
Subject(s) - tropopause , upwelling , atmospheric sciences , stratosphere , environmental science , ozone layer , ozone , convection , climatology , radiative equilibrium , radiative transfer , meteorology , physics , geology , oceanography , quantum mechanics
The tropical tropopause layer (TTL) temperature balance is of considerable interest for its control over the amount of water entering the stratosphere. The upwelling branch of the Brewer‐Dobson circulation (BDC) directly affects these temperatures through adiabatic cooling. BDC upwelling also indirectly affects TTL temperatures through the influence of ozone transport on radiative heating. We investigate this latter feedback using a single‐column radiative‐convective equilibrium model coupled with a model of simplified stratospheric ozone chemistry and vertical transport. We find that BDC ozone transport is of first‐order importance for TTL temperatures. Additionally, we estimate the effect of ozone transport on cold point tropopause temperature responses to changes in upwelling. We find that the feedback is responsible for approximately 20% of the response to perturbations on time scales longer than about half a year but that this contribution can be neglected for time scales shorter than about a week.