What is stratospheric water vapor?

Stratospheric water vapor (SWV) is recognized as a potentially important positive feedback in global warming. The SWV change induces significant downward radiative flux perturbation at the tropopause and therefore is hypothesized to substantially amplify the surface warming.

Why is there little water vapour in the stratosphere?

Due to the low temperatures in this region of the atmosphere, the air gets freeze-dried and very little water enters the stratosphere. Recent analyses suggest that warming at the Earth’s surface may be sensitive to sub- parts per million (ppm) by volume changes in water vapour in the lower stratosphere.

Where does the water vapor in the stratosphere come from?

Water vapor in the stratosphere originates from both transport of tropospheric air through the tropical tropopause (Brewer, 1949) and in situ methane oxidation in the middle to upper stratosphere (Jones et al., 1986).

How much water vapor is in the stratosphere?

Weather phenomena -with high humidity, cloud formation and precipitation- occur in the lowermost ~10 km of the atmosphere, the so-called troposphere. The stratosphere above is very dry, with only about 4 to 10 water molecules among 1 million air particles.

How is the stratospheric ozone affected by water vapor?

Furthermore the longitudinal distribution of the stratospheric ozone suggests that it is affected by the interaction between the up-stream of water vapor and the tropospheric northern wind in the present case. These facts are discussed by the ozone chemistry with the HO x catalytic chemistry.

Where does the action of water vapor take place?

The action of water vapor on the stratospheric ozone chemistry is studied in the low latitude region and the Polar Regions with the data of the solar-occultation infrared spectrometers LAS boarding the satellite OHZORA (EXOS-C) and ILAS boarding the satellite Midori (ADEOS), respectively.

What is the purpose of water vapor imagery?

This image is taken using a wavelength sensitive to the content of water vapor in the atmosphere. Water vapor imagery is useful for both determining locations of moisture and atmospheric circulations that may affect your area. We have updated our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy .