Abstract
Under weather conditions with frontogenesis in the upper troposphere the tropopause can fold downwards and ozone-rich air from the stratosphere can thus be transported several thousand meters into the troposphere. The vertical mass exchange of stratospheric and tropospheric air in a folding event can be explained in terms of the development of the ageostrophic, vertical circulation connected to the jet streak in this region. A combination of horizontal wind shear and confluent motion in the left jet entrance region can give such a strong secondary circulation which can create very pronounced tropopause folds.
In a model simulation of an explosive cyclogenesis using a modified version of the Norwegian Limited Area Model (UBLAM), two tropopause folds developed in the left entrance region of two separate jet streaks. The large scal features of the tropopause folds were simulated quite will. One of the folds was located behind the cold front and the other ahead of the warm front, with both folds reaching down to about 600 hPa. An ageostrophic, vertical circulation caused by both confluence and horizontal wind shear seemed to create these folds.
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Thorstensen, I.K. (1995). Tropopause Fold Formation in an Explosive Cyclogenesis. In: Wang, WC., Isaksen, I.S.A. (eds) Atmospheric Ozone as a Climate Gas. NATO ASI Series, vol 32. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79869-6_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79869-6_26
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