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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 5, 1222, doi:10.1029/2002GL016419, 2003

Advective-diffusive mass flux and implications for stratosphere-troposphere exchange

Timothy M. Hall

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, New York, New York, USA


Mark Holzer

Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia and Physics Department, Langara College, Vancouver, BC, Canada


Abstract

We show that the flux of mass crossing in one direction (the “gross” flux) through any specified surface S that divides anadvective-diffusive flow in a closed domain is infinite. That is, the flux, inline equation (τ), through S of the fluid mass that spent at least time τ on one side of S diverges like τ−1/2 as τ → 0, in the continuum limit. The gross flux is completely dominated by fluid elements residing infinitesimally short times on one side of S before re-crossing to the other side. This general result puts into context the widely varying estimates of gross mass flux across the midlatitude tropopause. Such estimates are dominated by the smallest resolved scales, leading us to conclude that gross mass flux is not a useful diagnostic of stratosphere-troposphere exchange. The function inline equation (τ), however, provides important information on transport across the tropopause.

Published 7 March 2003.

Index Terms: 0341 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere—constituent transport and chemistry (3334); 0368 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere—constituent transport and chemistry; 3299 Mathematical Geophysics: General or miscellaneous; 3362 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Stratosphere/troposphere interactions; 3399 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: General or miscellaneous.

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Citation: Hall, T. M., and M. Holzer (2003), Advective-diffusive mass flux and implications for stratosphere-troposphere exchange, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(5), 1222, doi:10.1029/2002GL016419.