Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs): I. Cloud morphology and occurrence

Year: 2003

Authors: Peter T., Luo BP., Wernli H., Wirth M., Kiemle C., Flentje H., Yushkov VA., Khattatov V., Rudakov V., Thomas A., Borrmann S., Toci G., Mazzinghi P., Beuermann J., Schiller C., Cairo F., Di Donfrancesco G., Adriani A., Volk CM., Strom J., Noone K., Mitev V., MacKenzie RA., Carslaw KS., Trautmann T., Santacesaria V., Stefanutti L.

Autors Affiliation: Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland;
Institute for Atmospheric Physics, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany;
Central Aerological Observatory, Moscow, Russia;
Institute for Atmospheric Physics, University of Mainz, Germany;
Quantum Electronics Institute National Research Council (IEQ-CNR) Florence, Italy;
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy;
Institute I: Stratosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany;
Institute for Atmospheric Science and Climate, CNR, Roma, Italy;
ENEA Casaccia, Rome, Italy;
Institut fr Meteorologie und Geophysik, Universität Frankfurt, Germany;
Institute of Applied Environmental Research, Stockholm University, Sweden;
Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Sweden;
Observatoire Cantonal, Neuchâtel, Switzerland;
Environmental Science Department, Lancaster University, UK;
School of the Environmental, University of Leeds, UK;
Institute of Meteorology, University of Leipzig, Germany;
IROE – CNR Nello Carrara, Firenze, Italy;
Geophysica-GEIE – CNR, Firenze, Italy

Abstract: Subvisible cirrus clouds (SVCs) may contribute to dehydration close to the tropical tropopause. The higher and colder SVCs and the larger their ice crystals, the more likely they represent the last efficient point of contact of the gas phase with the ice phase and, hence, the last dehydrating step, before the air enters the stratosphere. The first simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of SVCs were taken during the APE-THESEO campaign in the western Indian ocean in February/March 1999. The observed clouds, termed Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs), belong to the geometrically and optically thinnest large-scale clouds in the Earth

Journal/Review: ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS

Volume: 3      Pages from: 1083  to: 1091

KeyWords: Upper Tropopause; Polar Stratospheric clouds; Cirrus clouds; Dehydration; Scattering
DOI: 10.5194/acp-3-1083-2003

Citations: 63
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