Simulation of convective moistening of extratropical lower stratosphere using a numerical weather prediction model

Abstract. Stratospheric water vapor (SWV) is a climatically important atmospheric constituent due to its impacts on the radiation budget and atmospheric chemical composition. Despite the important role of SWV in the climate system, the processes controlling the distribution and variation of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) are not well understood. In order to better understand the mechanism of transport of water vapor through the tropopause, this study uses the high resolution Global Environmental Multiscale model of the Environment and Climate Change Canada, to simulate a lower stratosphere moistening event over North America. Satellite remote sensing and aircraft in situ observations are used to evaluate the quality of model simulation. The main focus of this study is to evaluate the processes that influence the lower stratosphere water vapor budget, particularly the direct water vapor transport and the moistening due to the ice sublimation. In the high-resolution simulations with horizontal grid-spacing less than 2.5 km, it is found that the main contribution to lower-stratospheric moistening is the upward transport caused by the breaking of gravity waves. In contrast, for the lower-resolution simulation with horizontal grid-spacing of 10 km, the lower-stratospheric moistening is dominated by the sublimation of ice. In comparison with the aircraft in situ observations, the high-resolution simulations predict well the water vapor content in the UTLS, while the lower resolution simulation over-estimates the water vapor content. This overestimation is associated with the overly abundant ice in the UTLS along with too-high sublimation rate in the lower stratosphere. The results of this study affirm the strong influence of overshooting convection on the lower-stratospheric water vapor and highlight the importance of both dynamics and microphysics in simulating the water vapor distribution in the UTLS region.