Estimation of Stratospheric Intrusions During Indian Cyclones

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Atmospheres 2023-02, Vol.128 (3), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Roy, Chaitri, Ravishankara, A. R., Newman, Paul A., David, Liji M., Fadnavis, Suvarna, Rathod, Sagar D., Lait, Leslie, Krishnan, R., Clark, Hannah, Sauvage, Bastien
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aircraft observations; Atmosphere; Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics; Atmospheric chemistry; Atmospheric models; Atmospheric monitoring; CAMS; Chemical reactions; Convection; Cyclones; Datasets; Estimates; Gases; Geophysics; GEOS‐Chem; Hurricanes; Indian Ocean cyclones; Lower atmosphere; Oceans; Ozone; Ozone concentration; Physics; Potential vorticity; Stratosphere; stratosphere‐troposphere exchange; stratospheric intrusion; stratospheric ozone; Tracers; Tropical cyclones; Tropopause; Troposphere; Tropospheric ozone; Ultraviolet radiation; Upper atmosphere; Upper troposphere; Vorticity
• ISSN: 2169-897X; 2169-8996
• DOI: 10.1029/2022JD037519

Deep convection associated with tropical cyclones leads to stratosphere‐troposphere exchange (STE), which affects the upper‐tropospheric ozone concentrations in the vicinity of the cyclones. This study estimates the ozone enhancements over India due to the North Indian Ocean (NIO) cyclones‐driven STE. Indicators such as stratospheric fraction and potential vorticity calculated using the reanalysis data sets suggest that roughly 70% of the cyclones show anomalously high stratospheric intrusions. Aircraft observations over different locations across India also show elevated ozone concentrations in the mid‐to‐upper troposphere on cyclone days. Further, ozone and stratospheric ozone tracer concentrations from Goddard Earth Observing System‐Chemistry simulations and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service reanalysis data sets show up to 40 ppb of excess upper tropospheric ozone over India, of which stratospheric ozone accounts for roughly 60%. Stratospheric intrusion due to the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea cyclones affected the upper tropospheric ozone amounts over North and South India, respectively. The stratospheric ozone was observed to propagate downwards into the troposphere, often reaching ∼600 hPa and, in some cases, even the surface. Plain Language Summary This study estimates the increase in the amount of ozone in the upper half of the lower atmosphere (“upper troposphere”) during the North Indian Ocean (NIO) cyclones. Ozone in the upper atmosphere (“stratosphere”) protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation but affects human and ecosystem health when present in the lower atmosphere (“troposphere”). Generally, the ozone in the lower atmosphere occurs due to chemical reactions of gases and sometimes due to the transport from the ozone‐rich upper atmosphere. However, there is a barrier between the upper and the lower atmospheres, also known as the tropopause. Using observations and atmospheric models, we study the penetration of ozone from the upper atmosphere to the lower atmosphere, during the NIO cyclones which disturb the separation barrier. We studied 20 cyclones and found that they disturb the barrier between the upper and the lower atmosphere significantly over India and a large amount of ozone moves between them, so much so that it almost doubles the ozone concentration in the upper half of the lower atmosphere. A warmer world in the future could lead to more cyclones which could increase ozone in the lower atmosphere. Key Po