CAREER: Multiscale Dynamics of the Tropical Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere

职业：热带对流层上层和平流层下层的多尺度动力学

• 批准号: 1151768
• 负责人: Thomas Birner
• 金额: $ 70.23万
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-02-01 至 2018-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1151768&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Multiscale; Dynamics; Tropical; Upper

This is a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project to support a junior faculty member in developing and conducting an integrated 5-year program of research and education in atmospheric science. The research component is a study of the mechanisms which govern the temperature structure of the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL), the layer of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere between about 200mb (roughly the level of tropical convective outflow) and 70mb. The TTL is scientifically interesting because it contains the interface between the troposphere and stratosphere, including the cold point tropopause (around 100mb), and conditions in the TTL control the entry of atmospheric tracers into the stratosphere, including water vapor. Water vapor is of particular interest due to its strong radiative effects, and because of the role of stratospheric clouds in the formation of the ozone hole. The amount of water vapor entering the stratosphere in turn depends strongly on temperature in the TTL, and temperature is determined by a variety of mechanisms from individual convective plumes to planetary-scale circulations. This project explores the full range of mechanisms using a hierarchy of numerical models, including single-column radiative-convective model, a cloud resolving model with a pan-tropical domain, and a comprehensive chemistry-climate model. The project will attempt to understand why temperature continues to decrease with height between the convective cloud tops and the cold point tropopause, and the processes which drive temperature variability within the TTL.The educational component of the project seeks to introduce students and the general public to atmospheric science through "tales of great discoveries". The goal of the activity is to teach science from a historical perspective, emphasizing science as a human and social endeavor that occurs within a particular historical context. This approach has been used to teach physics to general audiences, and studies show that the historical approach can make physics more approachable for non-specialists. But despite the success of this approach for physics it has not been developed previously atmospheric science. Through this award the PI will work with the outreach program at the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) to present several tales of discovery, including the discovery of the tropopause and stratosphere, the discovery of the Brewer-Dobson circulation, the discovery of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, and the discovery of the ozone hole.

这是一个教师早期职业发展（CAREER）项目，以支持在开发和进行大气科学研究和教育的综合5年计划的初级教师。 研究部分是研究热带对流层顶层（TTL）温度结构的控制机制，TTL是对流层上部和平流层下部在200毫巴（大致为热带对流流出层）至70毫巴之间的一层。 TTL在科学上是有趣的，因为它包含对流层和平流层之间的界面，包括冷点对流层顶（约100毫巴），TTL中的条件控制大气示踪剂进入平流层，包括水蒸气。 水蒸气由于其强烈的辐射效应和平流层云在臭氧洞形成中的作用而特别令人感兴趣。 进入平流层的水汽量反过来又强烈地依赖于TTL中的温度，而温度是由从单个对流羽流到行星尺度环流的各种机制决定的。 本项目使用一系列数值模式探索了各种机制，包括单柱辐射-对流模式、具有泛热带区域的云解析模式和综合化学-气候模式。 该项目将试图了解为什么对流云顶和冷点对流层顶之间的温度会随着高度的增加而持续下降，以及在TTL内驱动温度变化的过程，该项目的教育部分试图通过“伟大发现的故事”向学生和公众介绍大气科学。 该活动的目标是从历史的角度教授科学，强调科学是在特定历史背景下发生的人类和社会奋进。 这种方法已被用于向普通观众教授物理学，研究表明，历史方法可以使物理学更容易为非专业人士所接受。但是，尽管这种方法在物理学上取得了成功，但它在以前的大气科学中还没有得到发展。 通过该奖项，PI将与大气过程多尺度建模中心（CMMAP）的外展项目合作，展示几个发现故事，包括对流层顶和平流层的发现、布鲁尔-多布森环流的发现、准两年振荡的发现以及臭氧空洞的发现。