High humidities and subvisible cirrus near the tropical tropopause

Geophysical Research Letters

Volumn 26, Issue 15, 1999, Pages 2347-2350

  Jensen, Eric J ^a   Read, William G ^b   Mergenthaler, John ^c   Sandor, Brad J ^d   Pfister, Leonhard ^a   Tabazadeh, Azadeh ^a  

^a NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER   (United States)

^b CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^c LOCKHEED MARTIN   (United States)

^d NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BUDGET CONTROL; CLOUDS; TROPICS; TROPOSPHERE; UPPER ATMOSPHERE; WATER VAPOR; ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY; ICE; NUMERICAL METHODS; RADIATION; SATELLITE OBSERVATORIES; SATURATION (MATERIALS COMPOSITION); VAPORS; WATER;

ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH; FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS; MICROWAVE LIMB SOUNDER; OUTGOING LONGWAVE RADIATION; RADIATIVE HEATING; TOP OF THE ATMOSPHERES; TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE; WATER VAPOR MEASUREMENT;

ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY; TROPOSPHERE;

HUMIDITY FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION; LONGWAVE RADIATIVE FLUX; TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE; UPPER TROPOSPHERIC HEATING RATES; WATER VAPOR;

CIRRUS; HUMIDITY; TROPICAL METEOROLOGY; TROPOPAUSE;

EID: 0033452281     PISSN: 00948276     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/1999GL900266     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. Anderson, P. S., A method for rescaling humidity sensors at temperatures well below freezing, J. Atmos. Oc. Tech., 11, 1388, 1994.
2. Chiou, E. W., M. P. McCormick, and W. P. Chu, Global water vapor distributions in the stratosphere and upper troposphere derived from 5.5 years of SAGE II observations (1986-1991), J. Geophys. Res., 102, 19105, 1997.
3. Clough, S. A., et al., Line-by-Line calculations of atmospheric fluxes and cooling rates: Application to water vapor, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 15761, 1992.
4. Ellingson, R. G., and Y. Fouquart, The intercomparison of radiation codes in climate models: An overview, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 8925, 1991.
5. Hartmann, D. L., et al., The effect of cloud type on Earth's energy balance: Global analysis, J. Climate, 5, 1281, 1992.
6. Heymsfield, A. J., et al., Ice particles observed in a cirroform cloud at -85°C and implications for polar stratospheric clouds, J. Atmos. Sci., 43, 851-855, 1986.
7. Houze, R. A., Observed structure of mesoscale convective systems and implications for large-scale heating, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 115, 425, 1989.
8. Kley, D., et al., Observations of near-zero ozone concentrations over the convective Pacific: effects on air chemistry, Science, 274, 230, 1996.
9. Kelly, K., A. F. Tuck, and T. Davies, Wintertime asymmetry of upper tropospheric water between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 8713, 1993.
10. McClatchey et al., Optical properties of the atmosphere, Environ. Res. Pap., AFCRL-72-0497, Air Force Cambridge Res. Lab., Bedford, Mass., 1972.
11. Mergenthaler et al., Observations of Tropical Cirrus by CLAES, in preparation, 1998.
12. Miloshevich, L. M., and A. J. Heymsfield, Undermeasurement of high relative humidities in the upper troposphere by vaisala RS80-A radiosondes, presented at the 10th Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation, 11-16 Jan., Phoenix, Arizona, 1998.
13. Newell, R. E. et al., Upper tropspheric water vapor and cirrus: Comparison of DC-8 observations, preliminary UARS microwave limb sounder measurements and meteorological analyses, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 1943, 1996.
14. Pierrehumbert, R. T., Thermostat, radiator fins, and local runaway greenhouse, J. Atmos. Sci., 52, 1784, 1995.
15. Read, W. G. et al. Upper-tropospheric water vapor from UARS MLS, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 76, 2381-2389, 1995.
16. Rosenfield, et al., The impact of subvisible cirrus clouds near the tropical tropopause on stratospheric water vapor, Geophys. Res. Lett., , 25, 1883-1886, 1998.
17. Sandor, B., et al., Seasonal behavior of tropical to mid-latitude upper tropospheric water vapor from UARS MLS, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 25935, 1998.
18. Spencer, R. W., and W. D. Braswell, How dry is the tropical free troposphere? Implications for global warming theory, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 1097-1106, 1997.
19. Udelhoffen, P. M., and D. L. Hartmann, Influence of tropical cloud systems on the relative humidity in the upper troposphere, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 7423-7440, 1994.
20. Vömel, H., et al., New evidence for the stratospheric dehydration mechanism in the equatorial Pacific, Geophys. Res. Lett., , 22, 3235, 1995.
21. Wang, P.-H. et al., A 6-year climatology of cloud occurrence frequency from Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II observations, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 29407, 1996.
22. Winker, D., and C. Trepte, Laminar cirrus observed near the tropical tropopause by LITE, Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 3351, 1998.