Observation of pollution plume capping by a tropopause fold
Airborne lidar measurements reveal a case in which a layer of
high-ozone air extruding from a tropopause fold appears to cap a
pollution plume and force it to spread out in the lower troposphere.
The morphology of the high-ozone layer resembles a three-dimensional
model of tropopause fold evolution that produces a low-altitude
potential vorticity tube. This is a mechanism that can complete the
irreversible transfer of air from the stratosphere, and can also
affect pollution levels at the surface if the capping layer reaches
the top of the boundary layer.
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