Equatorial transport as diagnosed from nitrous oxide variability

The mechanisms of transport on annual, semi-annual and quasi-biennial time scales in the equatorial (10° S-10° N) stratosphere are investigated using the nitrous oxide (N2O) measurements of the space-borne ODIN Sub-Millimetre Radiometer from November 2001 to June 2005, and the simulations of the three-dimensional chemical transport models MOCAGE and SLIMCAT. Both models are forced with analyses from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast, but the vertical transport is derived either from the forcing analyses by solving the continuity equation (MOCAGE), or from diabatic heating rates using a radiation scheme (SLIMCAT). The N2O variations in the mid-to-upper stratosphere at levels above 32 hPa are generally well captured by the models though significant differences appear with the observations as well as between the models, attributed to the difficulty of capturing correctly the slow upwelling associated with the Brewer-Dobson circulation.