Transport of trace gases via eddy shedding from the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone and associated impacts on ozone heating rates

Abstract

The highly vibrant Asian summer monsoon (ASM) anticyclone plays an important role in efficient transport of Asian tropospheric air masses to the extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). In this paper, we demonstrate long-range transport of Asian trace gases via eddy-shedding events using MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) satellite observations, ERA-Interim reanalysis data and the ECHAM5–HAMMOZ global chemistry-climate model. Model simulations and observations consistently show that Asian boundary layer trace gases are lifted to UTLS altitudes in the monsoon anticyclone and are further transported horizontally eastward and westward by eddies detached from the anticyclone. We present an event of eddy shedding during 1–8 July 2003 and discuss a 1995–2016 climatology of eddy-shedding events. Our analysis indicates that eddies detached from the anticyclone contribute to the transport of Asian trace gases away from the Asian region to the western Pacific (20–30∘ N, 120–150∘ E) and western Africa (20–30∘ N, 0–30∘ E). Over the last two decades, the estimated frequency of occurrence of eddy-shedding events is ∼68 % towards western Africa and ∼25 % towards the western Pacific.