Aura Top 10 Discoveries

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Aura Top 10 Discoveries
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OMI SO2 emissions from smelters can be seen from
space
Average OMI SO2 vertical column Sep 2004 - June
2005
Colombia
Equador
Peru
La Oroya
Daily SO2 burdens for 3 source regions Sept. 2004
- June 2005
Ilo
The Peruvian copper smelters are among the
worlds largest industrial point sources of SO2.
Carn et al., in prep
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OMI MLS First global tropospheric maps show
streams of tropospheric ozone crossing the oceans
OMI MLS can estimate the tropospheric ozone
residual by subtracting the MLS stratospheric
ozone from OMI column ozone. High residual
regions correspond to pollution sources and
transport
Ziemke et al., 2006
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TES First Maps of Tropospheric Ozone Carbon
Monoxide
Coincident measurements of tropospheric ozone
and carbon monoxide are critical for
understanding chemical and dynamical processes.
Note the tropical high ozone coincident with CO
which is associated with biomass burning.
Ozone
Carbon Monoxide
5
MLS First Global Measurement of Cloud Ice in
Upper Troposphere
Cloud ice measurement will improve global
circulation models used for weather and climate
forecasts. The measurements will also help
quantify the upper tropospheric (UT) hydrological
cycle, including water vapor feedbacks on climate
change.

• Upper troposphere cloud ice from MLS, ECMWF
  analyses, and various other GCMs. Note the
  differences over South America.
• Li et al., 2005
• Cloud ice increase with sea surface temperature
  300 K leads to convective moistening of UT, and
  H2O feedback above that implied solely by
  thermodynamics
• Su et al., 2006

greenhouse parameter
greenhouse parameter is the fraction of
radiation emitted by Earths surface that is not
radiated to space
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HIRDLS First Maps of Sub-Visual Cirrus
in the Upper Tropical Troposphere
Daily global measurements of the location, height
and optical thickness of subvisible cirrus show
seasonal movements
These cirrus layers play an important role in
the earths radiative balance as well as in
dehydrating the UT/LS HIRDLS observes these
layers at many latitudes, 2 times each day,
permitting seasonal and inter-annual variations
in this critical parameter to be determined
Note movement from SE Asia to India to Indonesia
and from Central to South America. This movement
is related to the change in the location of deep
convection.
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TES First Global Observations of HDO/H2O ratio
- A Tracer of Global Hydrological Processes
Water isotopes trace the history of an air
parcel. Lighter isotopes preferentially evaporate
and heavier isotopes preferentially condense thus
more condensation leads to more isotope
depletion. The TES measurements show that in the
tropics, re-evaporation of precipitation is an
important process controlling cloud formation. Up
to 70 of precipitation is re-evaporated into the
cloud.
High H2O and HDO/H2O ratio over land indicates
strong evapo-transpiration as the water vapor
source
Worden et al., submitted 2006
H2O (103ppmv)
HDO/H2O (delta-D)
700 hPA
700 hPA
Relatively Low HDO/H2O ratio with high H2O
indicates re-evaporation of precipitation in
tropical cloud systems
Lower HDO/H2O ratio with latitude due to
condensation along with poleward transport
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MLS Measurement of CO in Upper Troposphere

• Detection of CO pollution lofted to the upper
  troposphere and temporarily trapped in
  anticyclone over south Asia
• Filipiak et al., 2005, Li et al., 2005, Fu et
  al., 2006
• Detection of CO tape recorder in lower
  stratosphere which is linked to seasonal changes
  in biomass burning
• Reproduced by GMI chemical transport model
• Schoeberl et al., 2006

Deep Convection Zone
CO Perturbation
Slow UT/LS Lifting of CO
Rapid Convective Lifting of CO
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MLS Continuous measurement of HCl in
stratosphere
The continuous measurement of HCl in the
stratosphere shows the rapid recovery of this
major chlorine reservoir after polar ozone loss,
and continues the long-term measurements from
UARS HALOE

• First continuous view of chlorine partitioning
  through polar winter
• MLS simultaneously measures reservoir (HCl) and
  active (ClO) chlorine
• Santee et al., 2006
• Decrease in upper atmospheric HCl
• MLS global data are consistent with rate at which
  anthropogenic chlorine is expected to be cleansed
  from stratosphere
• Pre-CFC values of HCl are
• Stratospheric cleansing will take 50 years
• Froidevaux et al., 2006

In the polar vortex regions HCl is converted to
ClO which destroys ozone
HCl is slowly decreasing due to ban on CFCs
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MLS First Measurement of OH in the Middle
Stratosphere
The MLS measurements of OH and HO2 have provided
the first tests of global stratospheric hydrogen
chemistry and resolved the disagreement between
model estimates of OH and earlier observations -
these data suggest earlier observations are
suspect.
OH
HO2
20 10 0
20 10 0

• Comparison of MLS (red) with balloon (green,
  blue) correlative measurements and model (dashed
  black line) over diurnal cycle
• Pickett et al., 2006
• Comparison of MLS (red), model (black) and
  balloon (green) for different seasons. There is
  now reasonable agreement between measurement and
  model values.
• Canty et al., GRL, 2006.

37 km
37 km
20 10 0
106 molecules / cm3
10 5 0
32 km
32 km
0 6 12 18
24 local time / hour
0 6 12 18
24 local time / hour
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HIRDLS First Global Measurement of Small Scale
Gravity Waves in the Stratosphere
HIRDLS high resolution temperature measurements
show short vertical wavelength gravity waves,
permitting assessment of gravity wave forcing in
the stratospheric circulation
The temperature cross-section (over S. America)
and enlarged view (right) depicts an alternating
series of and - wave fronts propagating from
mid-latitude tropopause toward the
mid-stratosphere tropics. This is a gravity
wave with short vertical ( 4 km) and
horizontal (500 km) wavelength and small
amplitude (1-2K) that can not be observed with
other techniques. Analyses of HIRDLS data allow
determination of momentum input from small scale
waves which can be used in global circulation
models.