The HDO/H2O relationship in tropospheric water vapor in an idealized “last-saturation” model
نویسندگان
چکیده
[1] Previous model studies have shown that the isotopic composition of tropospheric water vapor is sensitive to atmospheric water transport processes, but compositional information is difficult to interpret due to the complexity of the models. Here an attempt is made to clarify the sensitivity by computing the relationship between tropospheric HDO (via dD) and H2O (via specific humidity q) in an idealized model atmosphere based on a “last-saturation” framework that includes convection coupled to a steady large-scale circulation with prescribed horizontal mixing. Multiple physical representations of convection and mixing allow key structural as well as parametric uncertainties to be explored. This model has previously been shown to reproduce the essential aspects of the humidity distribution. Variations of dD or q individually are dominated by local dynamics, but their relationship is preserved advectively, thus revealing conditions in regions of convection. The model qualitatively agrees with satellite observations, and reproduces some parametric sensitivities seen in previous GCM experiments. Sensitivity to model assumptions is greatest in the upper troposphere, apparently because in-situ evaporation and condensation processes in convective regions are more dominant in the budget there. In general, vapor recycling analogous to that in continental interiors emerges as the crucial element in explaining why dD exceeds that predicted by a simple Rayleigh process; such recycling involves coexistent condensation sinks and convective moisture sources, induced respectively by (for example) waves and small-scale convective mixing. The relative humidity distribution is much less sensitive to such recycling.
منابع مشابه
The HDO / H 2 O relationship in tropospheric water vapor in an 1 idealized “ last - saturation ” model
متن کامل
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer observations of the tropospheric HDO/H2O ratio: Estimation approach and characterization
[1] We present global, vertical profile estimates of the HDO/H2O ratio from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite. We emphasize in this paper the estimation approach and error characterization, which are critical to determining the very small absolute concentration of HDO relative to H2O and its uncertainty. These estimates were made fro...
متن کاملIntraseasonal isotopic variation associated with the Madden‐Julian Oscillation
[1] The Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) is the dominant mode of intraseasonal variability in the tropical atmosphere. This study examines the evolution of the hydrologic regime from before the onset of the MJO (pre‐onset period) to the MJO onset period, using deuterated water vapor (HDO) measurements from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and from ground‐based stations. Ground‐based ...
متن کاملGround-based remote sensing of HDO/H2O ratio profiles: introduction and validation of an innovative retrieval approach
We propose an innovative approach for analysing ground-based FTIR spectra which allows us to detect variabilities of lower and middle/upper tropospheric HDO/H2O ratios. We show that the proposed method is superior to common approaches. We estimate that lower tropospheric HDO/H2O ratios can be detected with a noise to signal ratio of 15% and middle/upper tropospheric ratios with a noise to signa...
متن کاملProfiles of CH4, HDO, H2O, and N2O with improved lower tropospheric vertical resolution from Aura TES radiances
Thermal infrared (IR) radiances measured near 8 microns contain information about the vertical distribution of water vapor (H2O), the water isotopologue HDO, and methane (CH4), key gases in the water and carbon cycles. Previous versions (Version 4 or less) of the TES profile retrieval algorithm used a “spectral-window” approach to minimize uncertainty from interfering species at the expense of ...
متن کامل