A reexamination of the "stratospheric fountain" hypothesis Academic Article

abstract

• We reexamine the 'stratospheric fountain' hypothesis by comparing estimates of the annually and zonally averaged volume mixing ratio (vmr) of water vapor entering the stratosphere to annually and zonally averaged estimates of the saturation vmr of the tropical tropopause-region. We find that the vmr of water vapor entering the stratosphere (3.80.3 ppmv) agrees well with the saturation vmr of the tropical tropopause-region (4.00.8 ppmv). Consequently, our analysis provides no support for the 'stratospheric fountain' hypothesis, which required troposphere-to-stratosphere transport to occur preferentially in regions where the tropical tropopause is colder than average.

authors

• Dessler, Andrew

published proceedings

• GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

altmetric score

• 3

author list (cited authors)

• Dessler, A. E.

citation count

• 92

complete list of authors

• Dessler, AE

publication date

• November 1998

publisher

• American Geophysical Union (AGU)  Publisher

published in

• Geophysical Research Letters  Journal

keywords

• 37 Earth Sciences
• 3701 Atmospheric Sciences

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1029/1998GL900120

start page

• 4165

end page

• 4168

volume

• 25

issue

• 22

URL

• http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1029%2F1998gl900120