Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 7 1 2007 10.5194/acp-7-107-2007 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/107/2007/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/107/2007/acp-7-107-2007.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/107/2007/acp-7-107-2007.pdf 107 119 2007-01-10 The water vapour distribution in the Arctic lowermost stratosphere during the LAUTLOS campaign and related transport processes including stratosphere-troposphere exchange A. Karpechko alex.karpetchko@fmi.fi A. Lukyanov E. Kyrö S. Khaikin L. Korshunov R. Kivi H. Vömel Finnish Meteorological Institute, ARC, Sodankylä, Finland Central Aerological Observatory, Moscow, Russia Cooperative Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Balloon-borne water vapour measurements during January and February 2004, which were obtained as part of the LAUTLOS campaign at Sodankylä, Finland, 67° N, were used to analyse the water vapour distribution in the wintertime Arctic lowermost stratosphere. A 2.5 km thick layer (or 30 K in the potential temperature scale) above the tropopause is characterized by a significant water vapour variability on a synoptic timescale with values between stratospheric and tropospheric, which is in good agreement with previously reported measurements. A cross-correlation analysis of ozone and water vapour confirms that this layer contains a mixture of stratospheric and tropospheric air masses. Some of the flights sampled laminae of enhanced water vapour above the tropopause. 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