Journal Article PreJuSER-37476

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On the decay of stratospheric pollutants: Diagnosing the longest-lived eigenmode

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2004
Union Washington, DC

Journal of Geophysical Research 109, 1 - 9 () [10.1029/2003JD004029]

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Abstract: [1] On the basis of a one-dimensional (1-D) analysis the decay time of the lowest eigenmode, tau(1), for the stratospheric distribution of a conserved tracer is derived from measured vertical profiles of the mean age of stratospheric air. Two case studies (a and b) give tau(1,a) = 3.8 +/- 0.8 years and tau(1,b) = 5.3 +/- 1.1 years. These semiobservational times are considerably longer than most of the tau(1) derived from 2-D and 3-D models. At the same time they are shorter than the observational eigentime, tau(1,HTO) = 7.7 +/- 2 years, determined from the decay of the tritium (T) content in stratospheric water vapor, following the thermonuclear test explosions in the early 1960s. Part of the differences among the observational eigentimes can be explained by the assumptions that had to be made to extract tau(1),(HTO) from the trend in the T content of stratospheric water vapor ( namely, the cosmogenic background of tritiated water vapor and the trend in stratospheric water vapor). This leads to a revised value tau(1,HTO) = 6.3 +/- 0.9 years for the time period 1975-1983. Allowing for a possible temporal trend in Gamma and hence tau(1), the value for the current tau(1) decreases to 5.3 +/- 1 years.

Keyword(s): J ; eigenfunctions of the vertical diffusion operator (auto) ; residence time (auto)


Note: Record converted from VDB: 12.11.2012

Contributing Institute(s):
  1. Troposphäre (ICG-II)
Research Program(s):
  1. Chemie und Dynamik der Geo-Biosphäre (U01)

Appears in the scientific report 2004
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OpenAccess ; JCR ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Thomson Reuters Master Journal List ; Web of Science Core Collection
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 Record created 2012-11-13, last modified 2024-07-12