Effects of tropical deep convection on interannual variability of tropical tropopause layer water vapor Institutional Repository Document uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract. Water vapor interannual variability in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is investigated using satellite observations and model simulations. We breakdown the influences of the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and the tropospheric temperature (T) as a function of latitude and longitude using a 2-dimensional multivariable linear regression. This allows us to examine the spatial distribution of the impact on TTL water vapor from these physical processes. In agreement with expectation, we find that the impacts from the BDC and QBO act on TTL water vapor by changing TTL temperature. For T, we find that TTL temperatures alone cannot explain the influence. We hypothesize a moistening role for the evaporation of convective ice from increased deep convection as troposphere warms. Tests with simulations from GEOSCCM and a corresponding trajectory model support this hypothesis.

altmetric score

  • 2

author list (cited authors)

  • Ye, H., Dessler, A. E., & Yu, W.

citation count

  • 1

complete list of authors

  • Ye, Hao||Dessler, Andrew E||Yu, Wandi

Book Title

  • EGUsphere

publication date

  • October 2017