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European Geosciences Union, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 1(11), p. 201-214, 2011

DOI: 10.5194/acp-11-201-2011

European Geosciences Union, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 2(10), p. 4927-4961

DOI: 10.5194/acpd-10-4927-2010

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Impact of deep convection in the tropical tropopause layer in West Africa: in-situ observations and mesoscale modelling

Journal article published in 2010 by Federico Fierli, E. Orlandi, Kathy S. Law ORCID, C. Cagnazzo, F. Cairo ORCID, C. Schiller, S. Borrmann, G. Di Donfrancesco, G. Didonfrancesco, F. Ravegnani, C. M. Volk
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Abstract. We present the analysis of the impact of convection on the composition of the tropical tropopause layer region (TTL) in West-Africa during the AMMA-SCOUT campaign. Geophysica M55 aircraft observations of water vapor, ozone, aerosol and CO2 during August 2006 show perturbed values at altitudes ranging from 14 km to 17 km (above the main convective outflow) and satellite data indicates that air detrainment is likely to have originated from convective cloud east of the flights. Simulations of the BOLAM mesoscale model, nudged with infrared radiance temperatures, are used to estimate the convective impact in the upper troposphere and to assess the fraction of air processed by convection. The analysis shows that BOLAM correctly reproduces the location and the vertical structure of convective outflow. Model-aided analysis indicates that convection can influence the composition of the upper troposphere above the level of main outflow for an event of deep convection close to the observation site. Model analysis also shows that deep convection occurring in the entire Sahelian transect (up to 2000 km E of the measurement area) has a non negligible role in determining TTL composition.