Hydrological controls on the tropospheric ozone greenhouse gas effect  

Dr. Le Kuai 
Assistant Researcher, Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Abstract

The role of the hydrological cycle in controlling the greenhouse gas (GHG) effect of ozone is quantified using the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) observations. The maximum GHG effect for ozone, which is defined as the sensitivity of top-of-atmosphere (TOA) flux to tropospheric O3, is found to be 1 Wm-2 in the subtropics as a consequence of stratosphere-troposphere exchange and suppression of clouds in the downward branch of the Hadley cell. Conversely the lower TOA flux sensitivity to ozone (less than 0.4 Wm-2) is found in the deep tropics closely following the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, probably due to dominance of water vapour absorption over convective regions and due to the presence of deep convective cloud.

• Questions:  Please contact Dr. Hui Su, Hui.Su@jpl.nasa.gov 
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