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Multiple tropopauses (MTs) defined by the World Meteorological Organization are frequently detected from autumn to spring at Syowa Station (69.0°S, 39.6°E). The dynamical mechanism of MT events was examined by observations of the first mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere (MST) radar in the Antarctic, the Program of the Antarctic Syowa MST/Incoherent Scatter (IS) Radar (PANSY), and of radiosondes on 8–11 April 2013. The MT structure above the first tropopause is composed of strong temperature fluctuations. By a detailed analysis of observed three-dimensional wind and temperature fluctuation components, it is shown that the phase and amplitude relations between these components are consistent with the theoretical characteristics of linear inertia–gravity waves (IGWs). Numerical simulations were performed by using a nonhydrostatic model. The simulated MT structures and IGW parameters agree well with the observation. In the analysis using the numerical simulation data, it is seen that IGWs were generated around 65°S, 15°E and around 70°S, 15°E, propagated eastward, and reached the region above Syowa Station when the MT event was observed. These IGWs were likely radiated spontaneously from the upper-tropospheric flow around 65°S, 15°E and were forced by strong southerly surface winds over steep topography (70°S, 15°E). The MT occurrence is attributable to strong IGWs and the low mean static stability in the polar winter lower stratosphere. It is also shown that nonorographic gravity waves associated with the tropopause folding event contribute to 40% of the momentum fluxes, as shown by a gravity wave–resolving general circulation model in the lower stratosphere around 65°S. This result indicates that they are one of the key components for solving the cold-bias problem found in most climate models.

A high-vertical-resolution general circulation model (GCM) output has been analyzed to clarify transport and mixing processes in the extratropical tropopause region. The high-resolution GCM, with a vertical resolution of about 300 m above the extratropical upper troposphere, allows simulation of fine atmospheric structures near the tropopause, such as the extratropical tropopause transition layer (ExTL) and the tropopause inversion layer (TIL). The high-resolution GCM realistically simulates fine thermal and dynamic structures in the extratropical tropopause region. The thickness and maximum stability of the simulated TIL are consistent with observations. The high-resolution output was analyzed using a zonal mean potential vorticity (PV) equation to identify dominant transport processes in the extratropical tropopause region. In the Northern Hemisphere extratropics during winter, mean downward advection sharpens the PV gradient between the tropopause and 20 K below it, whereas latitudinal variation in isentropic mixing sharpens the vertical PV gradient between the tropopause and 10 K above it. During summer, vertical mixing substantially sharpens the vertical PV gradient at 10–25 K above the tropopause. These sharpening effects may be strongly related to the formation mechanisms of strong concentration gradients of chemical tracers around the ExTL. Mechanisms of evolution of the TIL are also discussed by analyzing a thermodynamic equation. Downward heat advection and radiation processes primarily determine the seasonality of the TIL. The analysis results suggest that the locations of the TIL and the ExTL can be similar because of common dynamic processes and interactions between constituent distributions and thermal structure.

The relative roles of atmospheric motions on various scales, from mesoscale to planetary scale, in transport and mixing in the extratropical tropopause region are investigated using a high-vertical-resolution general circulation model (GCM). The GCM with a vertical resolution of about 300 m explicitly represents the propagation and breaking of gravity waves and the induced transport and mixing. A downward control calculation shows that the Eliassen–Palm (E-P) flux of the gravity waves diverges and induces a mean equatorward flow in the extratropical tropopause region, which differs from the mean poleward flow induced by the convergence of large-scale E-P fluxes. The diffusion coefficients estimated from the eddy potential vorticity flux in tropopause-based coordinates reveal that isentropic motions diffuse air between 20 K below and 10 K above the tropopause from late autumn to early spring, while vertical mixing is strongly suppressed at around 10–15 K above the tropopause throughout the year. The isentropic mixing is mainly caused by planetary- and synoptic-scale motions, while small-scale motions with a horizontal scale of less than a few thousand kilometers largely affect the three-dimensional mixing just above the tropopause. Analysis of the gravity wave energy and atmospheric instability implies that the small-scale dynamics associated with the dissipation and saturation of gravity waves is a significant cause of the three-dimensional mixing just above the tropopause. A rapid increase in the static stability in the tropopause inversion layer is considered to play an important role in controlling the gravity wave activity around the tropopause.

The horizontal structure of processes causing increases in ozone in the Antarctic polar vortex was examined using data measured in 2003 from an ozonesonde observation campaign at Syowa Station (39.6°E, 69.0°S) and from the Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer II (ILAS-II) onboard the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II. The ILAS-II data are daily and distributed uniformly at 14 points in the zonal direction, mostly at polar latitudes. The Antarctic ozone hole that developed in 2003 was one of the largest recorded. The period of focus in this study is 26 September through 24 October, when a strong polar vortex was situated in the stratosphere. An ozone mixing ratio contour (1.0 ppmv) moved downward near a height of 20 km during the period of focus. This increase in ozone is likely to result from downward transport of ozone-rich air originating from lower latitudes by Brewer–Dobson circulation. First, the descent rate of the mixing ratio contour was estimated by taking the geometric height as the vertical coordinate for the deep vortex interior around 20 km. A significant longitudinal dependence was observed. An analysis using ECMWF operational data shows that this dependence can be approximately explained by longitudinally dependent vertical movements of the isentropes caused by a zonal wavenumber-1 quasi-stationary planetary wave with amplitude and phases varying on a seasonal time scale. Next, the descent rate was calculated around 500 K (around 20 km) by taking the potential temperature (isentrope) as the vertical coordinate. The longitudinal dependence was still present using this coordinate, meaning that the ozone mixing ratio and its increase are not constant on the isentropic layer even in the interior of the polar vortex. A backward trajectory analysis showed that air parcels with large ozone mixing ratios were mostly transported from the polar vortex boundary region. This result suggests that lateral transport/mixing is important even before the breakup of the polar vortex. Results from a tracer–tracer correlation analysis of O3 and long-lived constituent N2O were also consistent with this inference. The contribution of lateral mixing to the increase in ozone was estimated at about 17% ± 4% that of the Brewer–Dobson circulation around 20 km, using the calculated descent rates. The results of this study also imply that Lagrangian downward motions in the vortex interior are not correctly estimated without accounting for lateral mixing, even if the polar vortex is dynamically stable.

The spatial structure and phase velocity of tropopause disturbances localized around the subpolar jet in the Southern Hemisphere are investigated using 6-hourly European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis data covering 15 yr (1979–93). The phase velocity and phase structure of the tropopause disturbances are in good agreement with those of an edge wave vertically trapped at the tropopause. However, the vertical distribution of the ratio of potential to kinetic energy exhibits maxima above and below the tropopause and a minimum around the tropopause, in contradiction to edge wave theory for which the ratio is unity throughout the troposphere and stratosphere. This difference in vertical structure between the observed tropopause disturbances and edge wave theory is attributed to the effects of a finite-depth tropopause together with the next-order corrections in Rossby number to quasigeostrophic dynamics.