References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-10-3427-2010

The ground-based FTIR network's potential for investigating the atmospheric water cycle

Schneider

¹ Yoshimura

² ³ Hase

¹ Blumenstock

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), IMK-ASF, Karlsruhe, Germany

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA

now at: Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan

14 04 2010

10 7 3427 3442

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/3427/2010/acp-10-3427-2010.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/3427/2010/acp-10-3427-2010.pdf

We present tropospheric H216O and HD16O/H216O vapour profiles measured by ground-based FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectrometers between 1996 and 2008 at a northern hemispheric subarctic and subtropical site (Kiruna, Northern Sweden, 68° N and Izaña, Tenerife Island, 28° N, respectively). We compare these measurements to an isotope incorporated atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). If the model is nudged towards meteorological fields of reanalysis data the agreement is very satisfactory on time scales ranging from daily to inter-annual. Taking the Izaña and Kiruna measurements as an example we document the FTIR network's unique potential for investigating the atmospheric water cycle. At the subarctic site we find strong correlations between the FTIR data, on the one hand, and the Arctic Oscillation index and the northern Atlantic sea surface temperature, on the other hand. The Izaña FTIR measurements reveal the importance of the Hadley circulation and the Northern Atlantic Oscillation index for the subtropical middle/upper tropospheric water balance. We document where the AGCM is able to capture these complexities of the water cycle and where it fails.

References 1

Blumenstock, T., Kopp, G., Hase, F., Hochschild, G., Mikuteit, S., Raffalski, U., and Ruhnke, R.: Observation of unusual chlorine activation by ground-based infrared and microwave spectroscopy in the late Arctic winter 2000/01, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 897–905, 2006.

Chen, T.-C.: Characteristics of African Easterly Waves depicted by ECMWF Reanalysis for 1991–2000, Mon Weather~Rev., 134, 3539–3566, 2006.

Cook, K H.: Generation of the African Easterly Jet and its role in determinating West African precipitation, J Climate, 12, 1165–1184, 1999.

Craig, H.: Standard for Reporting Concentrations of Deuterium and Oxygen-18 in Natural Waters, Science, 133, 1833–1834, 1961.

Dessler, A. E. and Sherwood, S. C.: A model of HDO in the tropical tropopause layer, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 3, 2173–2181, 2003.

Ehhalt, D H.: Vertical profiles of \chemHTO, \chemHDO, and \chemH_2O in the Troposphere, Rep. NCAR-TN/STR-100, Natl. Cent. for Atmos. Res., Boulder, Colorado, USA, 1974.

Frankenberg, C., Yoshimura, K., Warneke, T., Aben, I., Butz, A., Deutscher, N., Griffith, D., Hase, F., Notholt, J., Schneider, M., Schrejver, H., and Röckmann, T.: Dynamic processes governing lower-tropospheric HDO/H2O ratios as observed from space and ground, Science, 325, 1374–1377, 2009.

Gates, W L.: AMIP: The Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project, Bull Am Meteorol Soc., 73, 1962–1970, 1992.

Gardiner, T., Forbes, A., de Mazière, M., Vigouroux, C., Mahieu, E., Demoulin, P., Velazco, V., Notholt, J., Blumenstock, T., Hase, F., Kramer, I., Sussmann, R., Stremme, W., Mellqvist, J., Strandberg, A., Ellingsen, K., and Gauss, M.: Trend analysis of greenhouse gases over Europe measured by a network of ground-based remote FTIR instruments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 6719–6727, 2008.

Hase, F., Hannigan, J W., Coffey, M T., Goldman, A., Höpfner, M., Jones, N B., Rinsland, C P., and Wood, S W.: Intercomparison of retrieval codes used for the analysis of high-resolution, ground-based FTIR measurements, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 87, 25–52, 2004.

Held, I M. and Soden, B J.: Water Vapour Feedback and Global Warming, Annu. Rev. Energy Environ., 25, 441–475, 2000.

John, V O. and Soden, B J.: Temperature and humidity biases in global climate models and their impact on climate feedbacks, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L18704, doi:10.1029/2007GL030429, 2007.

Kanamitsu, M., Kumar, A., Juang, H.-M H., Schemm, J.-K., Wang, W., Yang, F., Hong, S.-Y., Peng, P., Chen, W., Moorthi, S., and Ji, M.: NCEP dynamical seasonal forcast system 2000, Bull Am Meteorol Soc., 83, 1019–1037, 2002.

Kurylo, M J. and Zander, R.: The NDSC – Its status after 10 years of operation, Proceedings of XIX Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, 167–168, 2000.

Minschwaner, K., Desler, A E., and Sawaengphokhai, P.: Multimodel Analysis of the Water Vapor Feedback in the Tropical Upper Troposphere, J Climate, 19, 5455–5465, 2006.

Pierrehumbert, R T.: Thermostats, Radiator Fins, and the Local Runaway Greenhouse, J Atmos Sci., 52, 1784–1806, 1995.

Rodgers, C D.: Inverse Methods for Atmospheric Sounding: Theory and Praxis, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, ISBN: 981-02-2740-X, 2000.

Schneider, M., Hase, F., and Blumenstock, T.: Water vapour profiles by ground-based FTIR spectroscopy: study for an optimised retrieval and its validation, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 811–830, 2006a.

Schneider, M., Hase, F., and Blumenstock, T.: Ground-based remote sensing of HDO/H2O ratio profiles: introduction and validation of an innovative retrieval approach, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 4705–4722, 2006b.

Schneider, M., Redondas, A., Hase, F., Guirado, C., Blumenstock, T., and Cuevas, E.: Comparison of ground-based Brewer and FTIR total column O3 monitoring techniques, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 5535–5550, 2008.

Schneider, M. and Hase, F.: Ground-based FTIR water vapour profile analyses, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 2, 609–619, 2009.

Schneider, M.,~Romero, P M.,~Hase, F.,~Blumenstock, T.,~Cuevas, E., and Ramos, R.: Continuous quality assessment of atmospheric water vapour measurement techniques: FTIR, Cimel, MFRSR, GPS, and Vaisala RS92, Atmos Meas Tech., 3, 323–338, 2010.

Spencer, R W. and Braswell, W D.: How Dry is the Tropical Free Troposphere? Implications for Global Warming Theory, Bull Amer Meteor Soc., 78, 1097–1106, 1997.

Sturm, C., Zhang, Q., and Noone, D.: An introduction to stable water isotopes in climate models: benefits of forward proxy modelling for paleoclimatology, Clim. Past, 6, 115–129, 2010.

Taylor, C B.: The vertical variations of the isotopic concentrations of tropospheric water vapour over continental Europe and their relationship to tropospheric structure, N. Z. Dep. Sci. Ind. Res., Inst. Nucl. Sci. Rep., INS-R-107, 44~pp., 1972.

van Hook, W A.: Vapor pressures of the isotopic waters and ices, J Phys Chem., 72, 1234–1244, 1968.

Webster, C R. and Heymsfield A J.: Water isotope ratios D/H, $^18$O/$^16$O, $^17$O/$^16$O in and out of clouds map dehydration pathways, Science, 302, 1742–1745, 2003.

Worden, J R., Bowman, K., Noone, D., Beer, R., Clough, S., Eldering, A., Fisher, B., Goldman, A., Gunson, M., Herman, R., Kulawik, S S., Lampel, M., Luo, M., Osterman, G., Rinsland, C., Rodgers, C., Sander, S., Shephard, M., and Worden, H.: TES observations of the tropospheric HDO/H2O ratio: retrieval approach and characterization, J Geophys Res., 111(D16), D16309, doi:10.1029/2005JD006606, 2006.

Worden, J R.,~Noone, D.,~Bowman, K.,~Beer, R.,~Eldering, A.,~Fisher, B.,~Gunson, M.,~Goldman, A.,~Herman, R.,~Kulawik, S S.,~Lampel, M.,~Osterman, G.,~Rinsland, C.,~Rodgers, C.,~Sander, S.,~Shephard, M.,~Webster, C R., and~Worden, H.: Importance of rain evaporation and continental convection in the tropical water cycle, Nature, 445, 528–532, 2007.

Yoshimura, K., Kanamitsu, M., Noone, D., and Oki, T.: Historical isotope simulation using Reanalysis atmospheric data, J Geophys Res., 113, D19108, doi:10.1029/2008JD010074, 2008.

Yoshimura, K. and Kanamitsu, M.: Dynamical global downscalling of global reanalysis, Mon Weather~Rev., 136(8), 2983–2998, 2008.

Zahn, A.: Constraints on 2-Way Transport across the Arctic Tropopause Based on O3, Stratospheric Tracer (SF$_6$) Ages, and Water Vapor Isotope (D, T) Tracers, J. Atmos. Chem. 39, 303–325, 2001.