UARS MLS Science
- Brief overview of UARS MLS scientific results to
date
- Some images (with accompanying text) illustrating MLS scientific results
- High latitude ozone depletion, chemistry and dynamics
- Global distribution and variations of ozone and other species
- SO2 injected into stratosphere by volcanoes
- Tropical Dynamics
- Upper tropospheric water vapor
Brief Overview of MLS Scientific Results To Date
Note: The list of
MLS-related publications contains full citations for all references
cited here.
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SO2 from the Pinatubo Volcano
Starting within 10 days of launch, and continuing for approximately
2 months, MLS observed the 3-dimensional distribution and decay of residual
SO2 injected into the tropical stratosphere by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption
which occurred about 3 months before launch of UARS. These observations
[Read et al., 1993] showed the Pinatubo SO2 mixing ratio maximum to occur
around 26 km altitude with abundances of ~15 ppbv on 21 September 1991.
The observed SO2 decay had e-folding times of 29 days at 26 km and 41 days
at 21 km, consistent with expectations that the primary destruction of
SO2 is due to reaction with OH leading to formation of stratospheric sulfate
aerosols. Projected backward to time of eruption, the total amount of SO2
injected by Pinatubo is estimated from MLS data to be 17 Mtons, consistent
with estimates inferred from other measurements. On 21 and 22 April 1993
MLS detected SO2 injected into the stratosphere by the South American Lascar
volcano [unpublished results].
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High-latitude winter chemistry and ozone depletion
Early results from UARS MLS also included the first global maps of
stratospheric
ClO, the predominant form of chemically-reactive chlorine involved in the
destruction of stratospheric O3. The initial MLS results [Waters et al.,
1993a,b; see also Chipperfield, 1993] showed the lower stratospheric Antarctic
vortex to be filled with ClO in the region where O3 was depleted, confirming
earlier conclusions from ground-based and aircraft instruments that chlorine
chemistry is the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole. They showed, for the
first time, that ClO in the Antarctic vortex can become enhanced by June,
and that O3 destruction by ClO is masked in the early Antarctic winter
by influx of O3 expected from diabatic descent. These results also showed
that the Arctic winter lower stratospheric vortex can become filled with
enhanced ClO, leading to calculated vortex-averaged O3 destruction rates
of ~0.7%/day. Results from 3D models [Douglass et al., 1993; Geller et
al., 1993; Lefevre et al., 1994], produced shortly after the MLS results
were obtained, showed the observed distribution of enhanced Arctic ClO
was consistent with chemical-transport model predictions. A clear relationship
was found between predicted polar stratospheric cloud formation along back
trajectories and enhanced Arctic ClO observed by MLS, and sporadic large
values of ClO seen by MLS outside the vortex were shown to be consistent
with that expected to be caused by instrument noise [Schoeberl et al.,
1993].
Definitive loss of Arctic ozone due to chemistry associated with the
enhanced ClO was determined from analyses of combined MLS and UARS CLAES
data by Manney et al. [1994]. Bell et al. [1994] found the expected
anticorrelation
between enhanced Arctic ClO measured by MLS and HCl measured from the ground.
Additional confirmation of the paradigm of chemical processing by polar
stratospheric clouds leading to activation of stratospheric chlorine is
shown in the analyses of northern hemisphere CLAES, MLS and HALOE data
by Geller et al. [1995], and in southern hemisphere MLS and CLAES data
by Ricaud et al. [1995].
Differences between the Arctic and Antarctic winter vortex conditions
as deduced from MLS observations are described by Santee et al. [1995],
and deduced from combined MLS, CLAES and HALOE data by Douglass et al.
[1995]. Mackenzie et al. [1996] compare lower stratospheric vortex ozone
destruction calculated from the MLS ClO with the MLS-observed change in
O3 for the northern winter of 1992-93 and southern winter of 1993. Additional
comparisons between MLS observations and model results for polar chemistry
are given by Ekman et al. [1995], Chipperfield et al. [1996] and Santee
et al. [1996a]. Schoeberl et al. [1996a] use MLS, HALOE and CLAES data
in an analysis of the development of the Antarctic ozone hole.
MLS measurements of Arctic ClO and O3 for the five northern winters
observed to date are described in the collective papers of Waters et al.
[1993a,b; 1995], Manney et al. [1994; 1995a,b; 1996a,b,e], and Santee et
al. [1995, 1996b]. Low ozone "pockets" in the middle stratospheric
winter anticyclone have been observed in MLS data and analyzed by Manney
et al. [1995c], who conclude these cannot be explained solely by transport.
Morris et al. [1996] show that the pockets can be explained by chemistry
operating on air masses which are isolated in the anticyclone.
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High-latitude dynamics
MLS observations have been used in several studies to provide information
on vortex and high-latitude dynamics. Early results showed the evolution
of ozone in the 1992 late winter southern polar vortex [Manney et al. 1993;
see also Manney et al. 1995a] with suggestions of poleward transport associated
with episodes of strong planetary wave activity, intensification of waves
in temperature and ozone when a 9-day eastward traveling wave 1 becomes
in-phase with a stationary wave 1 with implications for transport [Fishbein
et al.1993], and large tongues of air peeling off the Antarctic vortex
edge and migrating to midlatitudes during the breakup of the Antarcic vortex
[Harwood et al., 1993].
Lahoz et al. [1993] analyzed northern hemisphere mid-stratosphere vortex
processed diagnosed from MLS H2O, CLAES N2O and potenital vorticity calculated
from UKMO data and found descent in the vortex with little or no large
scale mixing across the vortex edge in the middle stratosphere. The
three-dimensional
evolution of the northern hemisphere stratospheric water vapor distribution
observed by MLS during October 1991 to July 1992 is documented by Lahoz
et al. [1994], with these distributions showing clear signatures of the
effects of diabetic descent through isentropic surfaces and quasi-horizontal
transport along isentropic surfaces, and the organization of the large-scale
winter flow by the interaction between the westerly polar vortex and the
Aleutian high. The seasonal evolution of southern hemispheric water vapor
observed by MLS is described by Lahoz et al. [1996b].
Manney et al.[1995d] simulate the transport of passive tracers observed
by MLS and CLAES over a 20-30 day period using Lagrangian transport
calculations,
and find the agreement between calculated and observed fields is best inside
the polar vortices, and better in the Arctic than in the Antarctic; however,
MLS H2O observations show behavior that is inconsistent with the calculationss
and with that expected for passive tracers inside the polar vortex in the
middle-to-upper stratosphere. Although there is not always detailed agreement
outside the vortex, the trajectory calculations still reproduce the average
large-scale characteristics of passive tracer evolutions in midlatitudes.
Similar analyses [Manney et al.1995e] show the evolution of ozone in the
lower stratosphere during early winter to be dominated by dynamics in December
1992 in the Arctic, and that ~50% of the chemical destruction of Antarctic
ozone in June 1992 may be masked by dynamical effects, mainly diabatic
descent, which bring higher ozone into the lower stratosphere vortex; the
analyses suggests that dynamical changes masked ~20-35% of chemical ozone
loss during late February and early March 1993 in the Arctic.
Morris et al. [1995] use trajectory-mapping techniques with MLS, CLAES
and HALOE data to analyze dynamical wave-breaking events. Orsolini et al.
[1996] use MLS O3 data to initialize a high-resolution transport model
and examine ozone laminae along the Arctic polar vortex edge.
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Global distribution and variations of ozone and other species
An overview of zonal mean O3 results from the first two and one-half
years of MLS operation is given by Froidevaux et al. [1994]; in addition
to features observed in stratospheric O3, this work includes initial results
of examining residual differences between the stratospheric O3 column from
MLS and the total O3 column from TOMS -- with information on tropospheric
ozone as the ultimate goal. Analyses by Ziemke et al. [1996] using these
data sets have shown zonal asymmetries in southern hemisphere column ozone
that have implications for biomass burning. Elson et al. [1994] describe
large-scale variations observed in MLS O3 and Elson et al. [1996] show
zonal and large-scale variations in MLS H2O.
Randel et al. [1995] include MLS and HALOE data in analyzing changes
in stratospheric ozone following the Pinatubo eruption. Dessler et al.
[1995; 1996a,b] used MLS ClO and O3 data, along with that of other UARS
instruments, to provide information on various aspects of stratospheric
chlorine chemistry. The latitudinal distribution of ClO in the upper
stratosphere
[Waters et al., 1996] shows a minimum in the tropics as expected from quenching
by increased amounts of upper stratospheric CH4 in the tropics. Jackman
et al. [1996] compare zonal mean ClO from MLS with model results, which
clearly shows a discrepancy in the middle and upper stratosphere which
has not yet been resolved and which has implications for problems in accurately
calculating ozone in the middle and upper stratosphere.
Two-day waves in the stratosphere have been analyzed by Limpasuvan and
Leovy [1995] using MLS H2O data, and by Wu et al. [1996] using MLS
temperatures.
Four-day waves observed in MLS ozone, temperature and geopotential height
have been analyzed by Allen et al. [1996]. MLS data have been used in
calculations
of stratospheric residual circulation by Rosenlof [1995] and Eluszkiewicz
et al. [1996]. Pumphrey and Harwood [1996] use MLS 183 GHz radiances to
explore the distribution of water vapor and ozone in the mesosphere and
provide information on mesospheric dynamics.
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Tropical dynamics
Kelvin waves observed in MLS tropical data have been analyzed by Canziani
et al. [1994, 1995] and Stone et al. [1995], and MLS observations of the
semiannual oscillation by Ray et al. [1994]. Randel et al. [1993] describe
CLAES and MLS observations of stratospheric transport from the tropics
to middle latitudes by planetary wave mixing. Carr et al. [1995] performed
initial analyses of MLS tropical stratospheric H2O data, and Mote et al.
[1995] found variations in these data which could be related to the annual
cycle in tropical tropopause temperatures. More extensive analyses by Mote
et al. [1995], greatly aided by the use of HALOE H2O and CH4, confirmed
that tropical air entering the stratosphere from below is marked by its
water vapor mixing ratio and retains a distinct memory of tropical tropopause
conditions for 18 months or more; this analysis implies that vertical mixing
is weak and that subtropical stratospheric "transport barriers"
are effective at inhibiting transport into the tropics. Schoeberl et al.
[1996b] also use MLS and other UARS data to estimate the dynamical isolation
of the tropical lower stratosphere.
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Upper tropospheric water vapor
Although not designed specifically for this measurement, UARS MLS is
sensitive to upper tropospheric water vapor when the field-of-view of its
ClO spectral band is scanned down through the troposphere which happens
once per minute on each limb scan. Important features of the MLS measurement
technique for upper tropospheric water vapor are its ability to observe
through cirrus and to determine vertical structure with more than 1300
profiles per day. Upper tropospheric water vapor measurements are important
for determine feedback effects associated with increasing greenhouse gases
and radiative forcing of climate.
Initial results [Read et al. 1995] have demonstrated the ability
of MLS to sense upper tropospheric water vapor, including (1) its insensitivity
to cirrus, (2) its ability to observe synoptic-scale features, and (3)
its ability to see detrainment streams extending from tropical convective
regions. The preliminary measurements from MLS show reasonably good agreement
with near-coincident aircraft measurements [Newell et al., 1996a]
and a distribution in the tropics that is consistent with the Walker
circulation
[Newell et al., 1996b]. Elson et al. [1996] show the zonal-mean
and wave-variances in these measurements seen in the first three years
of the UARS mission. Newell et al. [1997] found variations in MLS
tropical upper tropospheric H2O over the 1991-1994 period to
be closely related to sea surface temperature variations in the eastern
tropical Pacific, including both seasonal and interannual components. Stone
et al. [1996] have used MLS upper tropospheric H2O measurements
to investigate the structure and evolution of eastward-traveling medium-scale
wave features in the southern hemisphere summertime, and found results
consistent with paradigms for the structure and evolution of baroclinic
disturbances.
MLS measurements of upper tropospheric water vapor in the tropical Pacific
show expected
correlations with El Nino events. During the strong El Nino developing
in September 1997 the MLS
data show an anomalously moist upper troposphere over the eastern tropical
Pacific, and an anomalously dry upper troposphere over the tropical western
Pacific.
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