Impact of sudden stratospheric warmings on the stratosphere-to-troposphere transport of ozone

Jaewon Lee; Amy H. Butler; John R. Albers; Yutian Wu; Simon H. Lee

doi:10.1029/2024GL112588

Impact of sudden stratospheric warmings on the stratosphere-to-troposphere transport of ozone

Jaewon Lee^*, Amy H. Butler, John R. Albers, Yutian Wu, Simon H. Lee

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Earth & Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) can significantly impact tropospheric weather systems. Previous studies suggest that SSWs may also influence stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT), but their spatial and temporal distribution and mechanisms are not fully understood. The complex relationships between SSWs and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have also made it difficult to isolate the effects of SSWs on STT. From an idealized ENSO simulation with the WACCM4 model using a stratospheric origin ozone tracer, we investigate the effect of SSWs on the STT of ozone under different ENSO phases. We find a significant increase in lower tropospheric ozone from the SSW onset up to 3 months later over the Arctic, North America, and Europe, regardless of the ENSO phase. This study highlights the significant influence of SSWs on STT on a subseasonal scale. Our results also emphasize the need to consider SSWs when addressing the ENSO impact on STT.

Original language	English
Article number	e2024GL112588
Number of pages	10
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	52
Issue number	2
Early online date	14 Jan 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112588
Publication status	Published - 28 Jan 2025

Keywords

Sudden stratospheric warming
Stratosphere-troposphere coupling
Chemical transport
Ozone
Subseasonal-to-seasonal
ENSO

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Lee_2025_GRL_Impact-stratospheric-warmings-transport-ozone_CC
© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Cite this

@article{354fa2d5c992400188018cd7b530eef1,

title = "Impact of sudden stratospheric warmings on the stratosphere-to-troposphere transport of ozone",

abstract = "Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) can significantly impact tropospheric weather systems. Previous studies suggest that SSWs may also influence stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT), but their spatial and temporal distribution and mechanisms are not fully understood. The complex relationships between SSWs and the El Ni{\~n}o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have also made it difficult to isolate the effects of SSWs on STT. From an idealized ENSO simulation with the WACCM4 model using a stratospheric origin ozone tracer, we investigate the effect of SSWs on the STT of ozone under different ENSO phases. We find a significant increase in lower tropospheric ozone from the SSW onset up to 3 months later over the Arctic, North America, and Europe, regardless of the ENSO phase. This study highlights the significant influence of SSWs on STT on a subseasonal scale. Our results also emphasize the need to consider SSWs when addressing the ENSO impact on STT.",

keywords = "Sudden stratospheric warming, Stratosphere-troposphere coupling, Chemical transport, Ozone, Subseasonal-to-seasonal, ENSO",

author = "Jaewon Lee and Butler, {Amy H.} and Albers, {John R.} and Yutian Wu and Lee, {Simon H.}",

note = "Funding: J. L. and Y. W. are supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation award AGS‐1802248.",

year = "2025",

month = jan,

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doi = "10.1029/2024GL112588",

language = "English",

volume = "52",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Impact of sudden stratospheric warmings on the stratosphere-to-troposphere transport of ozone

AU - Lee, Jaewon

AU - Butler, Amy H.

AU - Albers, John R.

AU - Wu, Yutian

AU - Lee, Simon H.

N1 - Funding: J. L. and Y. W. are supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation award AGS‐1802248.

PY - 2025/1/28

Y1 - 2025/1/28

N2 - Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) can significantly impact tropospheric weather systems. Previous studies suggest that SSWs may also influence stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT), but their spatial and temporal distribution and mechanisms are not fully understood. The complex relationships between SSWs and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have also made it difficult to isolate the effects of SSWs on STT. From an idealized ENSO simulation with the WACCM4 model using a stratospheric origin ozone tracer, we investigate the effect of SSWs on the STT of ozone under different ENSO phases. We find a significant increase in lower tropospheric ozone from the SSW onset up to 3 months later over the Arctic, North America, and Europe, regardless of the ENSO phase. This study highlights the significant influence of SSWs on STT on a subseasonal scale. Our results also emphasize the need to consider SSWs when addressing the ENSO impact on STT.

AB - Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) can significantly impact tropospheric weather systems. Previous studies suggest that SSWs may also influence stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT), but their spatial and temporal distribution and mechanisms are not fully understood. The complex relationships between SSWs and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have also made it difficult to isolate the effects of SSWs on STT. From an idealized ENSO simulation with the WACCM4 model using a stratospheric origin ozone tracer, we investigate the effect of SSWs on the STT of ozone under different ENSO phases. We find a significant increase in lower tropospheric ozone from the SSW onset up to 3 months later over the Arctic, North America, and Europe, regardless of the ENSO phase. This study highlights the significant influence of SSWs on STT on a subseasonal scale. Our results also emphasize the need to consider SSWs when addressing the ENSO impact on STT.

KW - Sudden stratospheric warming

KW - Stratosphere-troposphere coupling

KW - Chemical transport

KW - Ozone

KW - Subseasonal-to-seasonal

KW - ENSO

U2 - 10.1029/2024GL112588

DO - 10.1029/2024GL112588

M3 - Article

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 52

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 2

M1 - e2024GL112588

ER -

Impact of sudden stratospheric warmings on the stratosphere-to-troposphere transport of ozone

Abstract

Keywords

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