The Interaction of Horizontal Transport and Photochemistry in the Stratosphere

该项目代表了NOAA航空实验室和国家大气研究中心的首席研究员和科学家之间跨学科的合作努力。它包括对平流层的研究，涉及动力学、传输和化学等要素。为了了解臭氧和其他化学物质的分布，必须了解混合和输送的动力学过程。特别令人感兴趣的是瞬态涡流在化学物质从赤道到极地的运输中的作用。平流层气流的演变相当复杂：极地涡旋的周期性位移和畸变导致化学物质的非常小尺度、不对称分布，现有的观测系统无法在时间或空间上充分解决这一问题。该项目的目标是开发一个高（水平）分辨率的数值模型，以进一步研究这一现象并确定所涉及的物理机制。由于平流层的特点是深垂直范围的流动，共同研究人员将采用二维模型来观察涡旋输运和光化学之间的相互作用。此外，他们将探索极地平流层云在改变平流层光化学中的作用。这一研究结果将对理解大气动力学和大气化学具有重要意义。

This project represents an interdisciplinary, collaborative effort between the principal investigator and scientists at NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. It consists of a study of the stratosphere involving elements of dynamics, transport, and chemistry. In order to understand distributions of ozone and other chemical species, the dynamical processes responsible for mixing and transport must be understood. Of particular interest is the role of transient eddies in the transport of chemical species form the equatorial to polar regions. The evolution of the stratospheric flow is quite complex: the periodic displacement and distortion of the polar vortex results in very small-scale, asymmetric distributions of chemical species that cannot be adequately resolved temporally or spatially by existing observing systems. The goal of this project is to develop a high (horizontal) resolution numerical model to further investigate this phenomenon and to identify the physical mechanisms involved. Because the stratosphere is characterized by flows of deep vertical extent, the co- investigators will employ a two-dimensional model to look at the interaction between eddy transport and photochemistry. In addition, they will explore the role of polar stratospheric clouds in altering the photochemistry of the stratosphere. This results of this research will have important implications for understanding of both atmospheric dynamics and atmospheric chemistry.