Vertical structure of stratospheric water vapour trends derived from merged satellite data.

ABSTRACT: Stratospheric water vapour is a powerful greenhouse gas. The longest available record from balloon observations over Boulder, Colorado, USA shows increases in stratospheric water vapour concentrations that cannot be fully explained by observed changes in the main drivers, tropical tropopause temperatures and methane. Satellite observations could help resolve the issue, but constructing a reliable long-term data record from individual short satellite records is challenging. Here we present an approach to merge satellite data sets with the help of a chemistry-climate model nudged to observed meteorology. We use the models' water vapour as a transfer function between data sets that overcomes issues arising from instrument drift and short overlap periods. In the lower stratosphere, our water v

SUBMITTER: Hegglin MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5734650 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature