Measurement of CO in Upper Troposphere

6.28.06

CO is a signature of pollution and can be transported a long way from its source. Not surprisingly, that transport can be vertical as well as horizontal. These images show how CO detected in the lower stratosphere can tell us something about where convection is occurring.

The lofting of CO plumes into the lower stratosphere during a year and half of observations. The variation in CO with altitude shows that convection pushes the CO to about 16 km and then it moves more slowly into the lower stratosphere - which causes the CO plumes to tilt with eight.

The hot-spot of CO over south-east asia shows that CO is lofting into the lower stratosphere during the asian monsoon season. Interestingly enough the hot-spot is not over the sub-continent but at the edge of the Himalayan plateau where the convection can acutlly reach higher into the stratosphere.

• Detection of CO pollution lofted to the upper troposphere and temporarily 'trapped' in anticyclone over south Asia
• Detection of 'CO tape recorder' in lower stratosphere which is linked to seasonal changes in biomass burning
• Reproduced by GMI chemical transport model

CO Perturbation

The image above shows Slow UT/LS Lifting of CO at 18km,
and Rapid Convective Lifting of CO at 15km

Deep Convection Zone