Co-Investigators:

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Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional
Transport Experiment (START08)
Science Objective Investigate transport
processes that impact the chemical-microphysical
distribution of the Ex-UTLS
Co-Principal Investigators Elliot Atlas (Univ.
of Miami), Kenneth P. Bowman (Texas AM), Laura
Pan (NCAR)
Co-Investigators External Linnea Avallone (CU)
James Elkins (NOAA) Fred Moore (CU) Dale Hurst
(CU) Steve Wofsy (Harvard University) Fuqing
Zhang (Texas AM)
NCAR Teresa Campos Andy Heymsfield Andy
Weinheimer Frank Flocke Bill Randel Sue
Schauffler Brian Ridley Britt Stephens Simone
Tilmes
Mixing on top of the STJ

• April-June, 2008
• Flight operation from Jeffco
• Joint with HIPPO (global carbon)

Long range transport
Convective transport
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START08 Information

• Motivations, brief history of project development
• Science questions objectives
• People involved
• Payload campaign dates
• Modeling effort
• Opportunities of collaboration

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Project History

• START was planned by the UTLS initiative at NCAR,
  in collaboration with a group of university
  colleagues, for the HIAPER progressive science
  mission (2005) for test flights
• NSF declined the funding for University co-Is and
  suggested a full scale campaign proposal in a
  later date
• A limited payload START was conducted by NCAR
  scientists (Dec 05) (with support from NOAA
  colleagues)
• A proposal for START08 with a moderate payload
  developed over the last two years, lead by a
  joint PI group (Pan, Atlas, Bowman, Zhang)
• NSF LA program suggested a joint
  payload/operation with Pre-HIPPO (Wofsy). The PI
  groups considered the payload overlap and flight
  pattern consistency and agreed to the joint
  operation

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Motivations and general questions

• In the Ex-UTLS region, multi-scale dynamics
  (i.e., stratospheric circulation and tropospheric
  weather systems ), coupled with chemistry,
  controls and redistributes a suite of radiatively
  significant species (Ozone, Water vapor,
  particles)
• How well is the new generation of CCMs
  representing this region and predicting the
  coupling of dynamics and chemistry in a changing
  climate?
• Process-oriented validation for the CCMs - the
  need for diagnostics that are observables - flux
  is not an observable, tracer-tracer correlations
  are, so is the age spectrum - need for a
  climatology in the UTLS region, also a
  theoretical framework
• Need for a new paradigm - what controls and
  defines the boundary between the stratosphere and
  troposphere? The perspective of chemical and
  microphysical behavior of the tropopause
• The need of HIAPER platform/instrumentation
  development (after the no-go for TC4
  participation) - we need exercise to put
  chemistry instruments on the plane
• Also need for experience of challenging flight
  patterns - can we probe convective anvils?

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Primary Science Objective Investigate transport
processes that impact the chemical-microphysical
distribution of the Ex-UTLS
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Primary Science Objective Investigate transport
processes that impact the chemical-microphysical
distribution of the Ex-UTLS

• Understanding the Ex-Tropopause
• Is the extratropical tropopause better
  characterized as a surface or a layer? ExTL?
• If a layer, how do we identify/define it? What
  controls its existence/depth?
• The behavior of the secondary tropopause
• What dynamical processes contribute to the
  occurrence of 2ndry tropopause?
• Whats the chemical transport processes
  associated with multiple tropopauses?
• What are the microphysical behavior of the region
  of multiple tropopauses?
• Key transport pathways
• Where are the preferred locations of STE and
  mixing?
• How do we identify the convective impact to UTLS
  air mass?
• What are the key tracer relationships that
  identifies these pathways?

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START05

• The concept of START08 was tested in a limited
  scope during START05
• Three publications up to date, highlights what we
  can learn with this new aircraft, in the Ex-UTLS
  region

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HIAPER Progressive Science Mission
(November 21 - December 22, 2005)
New NSF/NCAR GV
Daybreak before take off 2005-12-21
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Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional
Transport (START) Experiment

• Investigators Laura Pan (PI), Mel Shapiro, Bill
  Randel , Ken Bowman, Rushan Gao, Teresa Campos
• Four successful flights (7-9 hour each, out of 6
  planned)
• Measurements O3, H2O, CO, in addition to
  meteorological parameters (and other possible
  tracers such as CN)

Frontal Cloud - flt 2005-12-14
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Chemical Behavior of the Extratropical Tropopause

• Laura L. Pan
• National Center for Atmospheric Research
• Boulder, Colorado, USA

Contributors and Collaborators Mel Shapiro and
Al Cooper (NCAR) Kenneth Bowman (Texas
AM) Brian Ridley, Teresa Campos, Bill Randel,
Sue Schauffler, Chris Davis (NCAR) Rushan Gao
(NOAA) Jennifer Wei and Chris Barnet
(NOAA/NESDIS)

K-H cloud, Flt 2005-12-14
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START Flight 1, 2005-12-01
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Sampling the Tropopause Fold First research
flight of NSF/NCAR GV, 2005-12-01
Stratosphere
Troposphere

• GFS based PV2 surface, 18Z

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Chemical behavior of the extratropical tropopause
Pan et al., 2007
Cyclonic side of the jet
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Fine scale structure near a hyperbolic point
Bowman et al., 2007
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New Particle formation in the tropopause fold
Young et al., 2007
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What more do we expect from START08

• Characterizing major transport pathways using
  tracers of a range of lifetime
• Stratospheric influence of tropospheric ozone in
  Spring (the season of highest LS ozone loading)
• Chemical transport and microphysical processes
  associated with the secondary tropopause
• Gravity wave source and breaking in the jet
  stream
• The broader picture using satellite data
• Transport and mixing using multi-scale models

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Tropospheric intrusion into stratosphere observed
by HIRDLS
curtsy John Gille
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Chemical transport associated with secondary
tropopause?
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Rossby wave breaking poleward on top of the jet
core?
125 hPa static stability and PV, FNL, 060123 18Z
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Other satellite data, AIRS and IASI,
Planned 1st Flight, Nov 23, 2005
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Microphysical implications of the secondary
tropopause?
Noel and Haeffelin, 2007
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CALIPSO 532 Total Attenuated backscatter
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Modeling studies how different is the mixing in
UTLS represented in Eulerian vs. Lagrangian
models?
Ozone MOZART3 simulation
Intrusion simulated by CLaMS model
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Tracer-Tracer correlations from MOZART-3 Model

• Sharp decrease of the Tropopause at the
  Sup-tropical Jet

H2O
Ozone
CO
O3 (ppbv)

• Ozone/CO and Ozone/H20 equatorward and poleward
  of the STJ

O3 (ppbv)
O3 (ppbv)
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(No Transcript)
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Information from tracers of different lifetimes
Age spectrum derived using NMHC, Ehhalt et al.,
2007
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Tracers of different lifetime from MOZART3 model
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Objectives (con.)

• Role of gravity waves in the structure and
  composition of ExUTLS
• How well does the current generation of mesoscale
  models predict the excitation of GW by
  jet/fronts?
• How often do GW break in the ExUTLS and what is
  the evidence in tracer measurements for the
  contribution of GW breaking to mixing?

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Modeling and Satellite Data Effort

• Global - MOZART-3/WACCM (Simone Tilmes, Doug
  Kinnison, Andrew Gettelman )
• High res - CLaMS (Paul Konopka and colleagues,
  Bill Hall)
• Theoretical/idealized (GCM with baroclinic life
  cycle study, Lorenzo Polvani)
• MM4/WRF (Fuqing Zhang, Morris Weisman)
• WRF-Chem (Louisa Emmons)
• Trajectory model (Ken Bowman)
• Satellite data (AIRS and IASI ozone and water
  vapor, HIRDLS)

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Payload Plan (in iteration)
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Flight Resources/Operation

• 120 flight hours, 15 x 8 hr flights (3 Pre-Hippo
  flights)
• April 21-May 16, June 16-June 28
• Based at JeffCo airport

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A few actions planned

• We plan to have workshop at NCAR Jan 8-9, 2008,
  come to talk about your science interest..
• A mailing list has been created for all who are
  interested. Email to subscribe
• start_all-subscribe_at_mailman.acd.ucar.edu
• A website is created to update the information,
  in the progress
• http//www.acd.ucar.edu/start/

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Thank You !
Shadows of Monument Valley - Flight 051209