Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
www.atmos-chem-phys.net
1680-7316
1680-7324
7
3
2007
10.5194/acp-7-685-2007
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/685/2007/
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/685/2007/acp-7-685-2007.html
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/685/2007/acp-7-685-2007.pdf
685
695
2007-02-12
Solid particles in the tropical lowest stratosphere
J. K. Nielsen
jkn@dmi.dk
N. Larsen
F. Cairo
G. Di Donfrancesco
J. M. Rosen
G. Durry
G. Held
J. P. Pommereau
Danish Meteorological Institute, Lyngbyvej 100, 2100 Kbh. Ø, Denmark
Institute for Atmospheric Science and Climate, CNR, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment, ENEA C. R. Cassaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, 00060 Rome, Italy
University of Wyoming, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA
Groupe de Spectrometrie Moleculaire et Atmospherique, CNRS, Universite de Reims , 51687 Reims, France
Instituto de Pesquisas Meteorológicas, Universidade Estadual Paulista, CX Postal, 281 17015-970 BAURU, S. P., Brasil
CNRS, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Service d'Aeronomie, B.P. 3, 91371 Verrieres le Buisson Cedex, France
We report in situ and remote observations proving occasional
occurrence of solid particles in the tropical lowest stratosphere,
200 km from deep convective events. The particles were found
during field campaigns in Southeast Brazil (49.03 W 22.36 S). They
occur in the altitude range from 17.5 to 20.8 km, at temperatures up
to at least 10 K above the expected frost point temperature. While
stability of ice particles at these altitudes is unexpected from a
theoretical point of view, it is argued that these observations are
indications of tropospheric air masses penetrating into the
stratosphere during convective overshoots. It is
argued that the intrusion of tropospheric air must have carried a
large amount of water with it, which effectively hydrated the lowest
stratosphere, and consequently suppressed sublimation. This
conclusion is further supported by a separate water vapor mixing
ratio profile obtained at the same observation site.
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