Table Of ContentTransport Processes in the Middle Atmosphere
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Transport Processes in
the Middle Atmosphere
edited by
Guido Visconti
Department of Physics,
University of L'Aquila, Italy
Co-editor
Rolando Garcia
National Center for Atmospheric Research,
Boulder, U.S.A.
D. Reidel Publishing Company
Dordrecht / Boston / Lancaster / Tokyo
Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on
Transport Processes in the Middle Atmosphere
Erice.ltaly
November 23-27. 1986
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
NATO Advanced Research WorKshop on Transport Processes in the Middle Atmosphere
(1986: Erice, Sicily)
Transport processes in the middle atmosphere I edited by Guido Visconti; co-editor,
Rolando Garcia.
p. em - (NATO ASI series. Series C, Mathematical and physical sciences; vol. 213)
"Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Transport Processes in the
Middle Atmosphere. Erica, Italy, November 23-27. 1986"-T.p. verso.
"Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division."
Includes index.
ISBN·13: 978-94-010·8262·4 c:·ISBN-13: 978·94·009·3973·8
DOl: 10.1007/978-94·009-3973·8
1. Middla atmosphere. 2. Dynamic meteorology. I. Visconti. Guido. It. Garcia,
Rolando Victor, 191~ . III. Title. IV. Series: NATO ASI series. Series C, Math-
ematical and physical sciences; no. 213.
QC881.2.M53N38 1986
551.5'153-<1cI9
87-18799
CIP
Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company
P,O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrechl, Holland
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All Rights Reserved
e 1987 by D. Rediel Publishing Company, Dordrechl, Holland,
and copyrightholders as specified on appropriate pages within
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1987
No pan of the material protected by Ihis copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized
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or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the
copyright owner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ................. . vii
1. DYNAMICAL CLIMATOLOGY OF THE
MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE
Troposphere-stratosphere general circulation statistics
/M.A. GELLER and M.F. WU ....... . 3
A review of observations of the quasi-biennial and semiannual
oscillations of wind and temperature in the tropical middle
atmosphere/K. HAMILTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Recent progress in gravity wave saturation studies/D.C. FRITTS 31
Radar observations of gravity waves in the
mesosphere/R.A. VINCENT . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The seasonal evolution of the stratosphere in the northern
hemisphere/ A. O'NEILL and V.D. POPE . . 57
2. OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS
Distributions of ozone and nitric acid measured by the Limb
Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS)/J.C. GILLE 73
The near global distributions of middle atmospheric H 0 and
2
N02 measured by the NIMBUS 7 LIMS experiment/E.E. REMSBERG
and J.M. RUSSELL III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Satellite measurements of stratospheric aerosols/M.P. McCORMICK
and P.H. WANG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Evidence for planetary wave breaking from satellite data: The
relative roles of diabatic effects and irreversible
mixing/No BUTCHART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Seasonal variation in the variance of stratospheric ozone and
potential temperature over Hohenpeissenberg, F.R.G./E.P. ROTH
and D.H. EHHALT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Satellite observations of the Antarctic ozone
depletion/M.R. SCHOEBERL . . . . . 153
3. TRANSPORT IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE:
THEORY AND MODELING
Transport mechanisms in the middle atmosphere: An
introductory survey /D.G. ANDREWS 169
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
A coupled model of zonally averaged dynamics, radiation
and chemistry /K.K. TUNG ........ . 183
The influence of the semi-annual and quasi-biennial
oscillations on equatorial tracer distributions
/L.J. GRAY and J.A. PYLE ........ . 199
The effect of breaking gravity waves on the distribution of trace
species in the middle atmosphere/G. BRASSEUR and
M. HITCHMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Modeling the transport of chemically active constituents in
the stratosphere/W.L. GROSE, J.E. NEALY, R.E. TURNER
and W.T. BLACKSHEAR ............... . 229
Comprehensive modeling of the middle atmosphere: The influence
of horizontal resolution/J.D. MAHLMAN and L.J. UMSCHEID 251
Dynamics and tracer transport in the middle atmosphere: An
overview of some recent developments/M.E. MciNTYRE 267
Evidence of planetary wave breaking in the stratosphere using a
photochemical model along air parcel trajectories/J. AUSTIN 297
The production of temporal variability in trace constituents
concentrations/J.R. HOLTON ........... . 313
Parcel dispersion in stratospheric models/R.A. PLUMB . . 327
Diffusion coefficients calculated from satellite data/L.V. LYJAK 343
Vacillations induced by interference of stationary and traveling
planetary waves/M.L. SALBY and R.R. GARCIA 353
4. RADIATIVE PROCESSES AND TRANSPORT
Response of the middle atmosphere to changing 03 and CO2-
A speculative tutorial/S.B. FELS .......... . 371
The residual circulation: Interhemispheric differences and heating
and eddy components/S.R. BEAGLEY and R.S. HARWOOD 387
Analysis of the mean meridional circulation using satellite
data/E.R. REMSBERG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
5. OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES
Irregular and diurnal variability in asynoptic measurements of
stratospheric trace species/M.L. SALBY ........ 423
Contribution of radar observations of winds, waves, turbulence
and composition to study transport processes in the
middle atmosphere/ J. ROTTGER ........... 439
Lidar sounding of the structure and dynamics of the middle atmosphere:
A review of recent results relevant to transport processes
/M.L. CHANIN and A. HAUCHECORNE . . . . . . . 459
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF THE AUTHORS 479
SUBJECT INDEX 481
PREFACE
The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Transport Processes in the Middle
Atmosphere" was held in Erice, Sicily, from November 23 through November 27, 1986. In
addition to NATO, the workshop was supported by the International School of Atmospheric
Physics of the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture, and by the National Research
Council of Italy. The Organizing Committee was fortunate to enlist the participation of
many of the experts in the field, and this book is an account of their contributions. In order
to expedite publication and keep the results "as fresh as possible" , it was decided to forego
formal review of the papers; instead, the authors were asked to solicit internal reviews
from their colleagues. Further, each paper was thoroughly discussed and criticized during
the meeting, and those discussions have been taken into account in the preparation of the
final version of the manuscripts. Occasional short presentations were made by some of the
Workshop participants who wished to provide information complementary to that given in
the invited talks. These presentations are not included in this book, which contains only
the invited papers.
The book is organized into five chapters corresponding to the different topics cov
ered by the Workshop. The first two chapters contain general reviews of the dynamical
climatology of the middle atmosphere and of the growing body of data available on the dis
tribution of chemical constituents. The chapter on dynamical climatology places particular
emphasis on gravity waves, and the quasi-biennial and semiannual oscillations (see, e.g.,
the papers by Hamilton and Fritts). Gravity waves are increasingly recognized as crucially
important in the dynamics of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, while consideration
of the QBO and SAO is essential for a meaningful explanation of tracer distributions at
low latitudes. The role of planetary scale waves is examined in the paper by O'Neill and
Pope, who use Ertel's potential vorticity to study meridional transport by large amplitude
waves.
The observations and analyses of chemical constituents presented in the second chap
ter are based mostly on satellite data. Nevertheless, recent balloon-sonde observations
of the variance of ozone and other chemical constituents described by Roth and Ehhalt
demonstrate once again the advantages of a combination of measuring techniques for ob
taining a complete description of constituent distributions. A possible interpretation of the
observed variance is given by Holton in Chapter 3. Problems associated with measuring
techniques are reported in the last chapter. At the time of the Workshop, initial results
from the u.S. National Ozone Expedition were becoming available, and a discussion of the
Antarctic "ozone hole" phenomenon was unavoidable. Although this topic was not part
of the original agenda, an entire afternoon was devoted to it and a review by Schoeberl of
certain observations relating to ozone and temperature changes is included in Chapter 2.
Interpretation of climatology and other data is the aim of physical theory and nu
merical modeling. These aspects are the subject of the third and fourth chapters of this
volume. Comprehensive reviews on the different aspects of the transport problem by
Andrews, Mcintyre and Plumb are included, together with recent developments in the
viii PREFACE
interpretation of some specific features. The review papers emphasize the importance of
such concepts as planetary wave breaking and the Eliassen-Palm flux divergence for un
derstanding large scale transport in the stratosphere. A parameterization of the EP flux in
terms of mean quantities is suggested by Tung as a way to solve in a self-consistent man
ner the transport problem in two-dimensional models. The papers by Lyjak and Austin
show how calculation of parcel trajectories can be applied to estimate eddy diffusivities
and to test the accuracy of chemical schemes, respectively. Applications of some of these
ideas to two-dimensional modeling are described by Brasseur and Hitchman. Recent ad
vances in three-dimensional dynamical/chemical modeling are presented by Mahlman and
Umscheid, and Grose et al.
The fourth chapter also deals with data interpretation and modeling but with special
emphasis on radiative processes. The introduction of the Lagrangian and residual Eule
rian mean circulations has simplified the description of transport in the meridional plane,
although in most two-dimensional models a "diabatic" circulation is used instead. The
accuracy and the problems related to this approximation are discussed in the papers by
Beagley and Harwood, and Remsberg. Fels offers a very clear and simple summary of the
basic concepts developed in the chapter.
The final chapter is devoted to measurement techniques and contains reviews of satel
lite and ground based methods. The paper by Salby explores the information content
and limitations of satellite measurements which are intrinsically asynoptic. Rottger and
Chanin and Hauchecorne give general reviews on the results obtained both with MST and
lidar techniques that have contributed so much in the last few years to the understanding
of the upper atmosphere. One wishes only that more stations using such instrumentation
could be built and operated as a network.
The organization of the meeting and the publication of the book required the efforts of
many people. G. Fiocco and J. Pyle, members of the Organizing Committee, worked hard
to help prepare a comprehensive program. The generosity of the Ettore Majorana Center
and of its President, Prof. A. Zichichi, must be acknowledged especially because this
Workshop marked the renaissance of the dormant School on Atmospheric Physics. On the
part of NATO the kindness and support of L. Da Cunha, director of the Scientific Affairs
Division, has been essential. We are especially grateful to R. Cicerone, director of the
Atmospheric Chemistry Division, for his hospitality during the stay of G.V. at NCAR in
the summer of 1986, and to Donna Sanerib, whose assistance with typing, correspondence
and other logistical details was invaluable. In Italy, Gianna Vittorini helped on a part
time but enthusiastic basis. Without their help and the support and understanding of our
families the Workshop could not have been possible. Finally, one of us (G. V.) wishes to
give special thanks to all the Workshop participants who came to Erice even after asking
themselves "Who is this guy and what does he want from me?"
Boulder, Colorado Guido Visconti
August 3, 1987 Rolando R. Garcia
1. DYNAMICAL CLIMATOLOGY OF THE
MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE
TROPOSPHERE-STRATOSPHERE GENERAL CIRCULATION STATISTICS
Marvin A. Geller and Mao-Fou Wu
Laboratory for Atmospheres
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
ABSTRACT. Four years of NOAA/NMC temperature data are used to
calculate mean zonal winds, planetary wave structures, and eddy heat
fluxes. It is found that the interhemispheric differences in
planetary wave activity give rise to substantial differences in the
annual variation of the mean zonal winds and temperatures. The annual
variation in the observed total ozone distribution is also found to be
very different in the two hemispheres as a result of the differing
ozone transports accompanying the observed planetary wave structures.
1. INTRODUCTION
Recently, there has been much research activity directed toward using
newly available stratospheric satellite data to obtain an improved
picture of the stratospheric general circulation. Some of the recent
papers of this type are those of Hamilton (1982), Smith (1983), Geller
et ale (1983, 1984), Hirota et ale (1983), and Hartmann et ale
(1984). There have also been recent efforts to derive various repre
sentations of the mean meridional circulations from stratospheric
satellite temperature data using radiative heating calculations with
the thermodynamic equation (e.g., Kiehl and Solomon, 1986, Solomon et
al., 1986, and Rosenfield et al., 1987). Recently, there have also
been efforts to calculate ozone transports from satellite data such as
the works of Wu et ale (1985, 1987). It is the purpose of this paper
to discuss some of the main findings of these studies of the strato
spheric general circulation. He will do this using the results
derived from the four years of NOAA/NHC data that have served as the
basis for the studies of Geller et ale (1983, 1984), Rosenfield et ale
(1987), and Wu et ale (1987). The results of other papers will be
discussed within this context.
The NOAA/NMC data set has been described extensively in Geller et
ale (1983) and succeeding papers. Two points should be repeated here
however. First, although this data set extends up to the 0.4 mbar
level (about 55 km), the temperatures at the very highest levels (2
mbar and above) are not considered reliable since there is very little
3
G. Visconti and R. Garcia (eds.), Transport Processes in the Middle Atmosphere, 3-17.
© 1987 by D. Reidel Publishing Company.
