The spatial structure and phase velocity of tropopause disturbances localized around the subpolar jet in the Southern Hemisphere are investigated using 6-hourly European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis data covering 15 yr (1979–93). The phase velocity and phase structure of the tropopause disturbances are in good agreement with those of an edge wave vertically trapped at th...

We present airborne in-situ trace gas measurements which were performed on eight campaigns between November 2001 and July 2003 during the SPURT-project (SPURenstofftransport in der Tropopausenregion, trace gas transport in the tropopause region). The measurements on a quasi regular basis allowed an overview of the seasonal variations of the trace gas distribution in the tropopause region over E...

A temporally and spatially comprehensive depiction of the tropical tropopause is presented, based on radiosonde data from 83 stations. Climatological statistics for 1961– 1990 are computed for three levels: the conventional lapse-rate tropopause (LRT), the cold-point tropopause (CPT), and the 100 hPa level. Mean values and seasonal and interannual variations of temperature, pressure, height, po...

A number of key problems in atmospheric chemistry are shaped by the strength and character of the various mechanisms acting to move and mix air in the upper troposphere. These transport processes are examined from a mechanistic perspective, with primary emphasis on the tropopause andmiddle-troposphere regions in the extratropics. The roles of vertical and horizontal transport “barriers” are exp...

[1] A vertically high resolved climatology of the thermal and wind structure of the extratropical tropopause region is presented. The climatology is based on data from 80 U.S. radiosonde stations covering the period 1998–2002. Time averages for each radiosonde station are computed using the tropopause as a common reference level for all vertical profiles within the mean. A strong inversion at t...

The dominant vertical structures for analysis and forecast errors are estimated in midlatitudes using a small ensemble of operational analyses. Errors for fixed locations in the central North Pacific and eastern North America are selected for comparing errors in regions with relatively low and high observation density, respectively. Results for these fixed locations are compared with results fo...

The effect of large-scale dynamics as represented by the residual mean meridional circulation in the transformed Eulerian sense, in particular its stratospheric part, on lower stratospheric static stability and tropopause structure is studied using a comprehensive chemistry–climate model (CCM), reanalysis data, and simple idealized modeling. Dynamical forcing of static stability as associated w...