Atmospheric Science

Moist synoptic transport of CO2 along the mid-latitude storm track

  1. N. C. Parazoo1,
  2. A. S. Denning1,
  3. J. A. Berry2,
  4. A. Wolf3,
  5. D. A. Randall1,
  6. S. R. Kawa4,
  7. O. Pauluis5,
  8. S. C. Doney6

Article first published online: 12 MAY 2011

DOI: 10.1029/2011GL047238

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Parazoo, N. C., A. S. Denning, J. A. Berry, A. Wolf, D. A. Randall, S. R. Kawa, O. Pauluis, and S. C. Doney (2011), Moist synoptic transport of CO2 along the mid-latitude storm track, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L09804, doi:10.1029/2011GL047238.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, California, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

  4. 4

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

  5. 5

    Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, New York, USA

  6. 6

    Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 12 MAY 2011
  2. Article first published online: 12 MAY 2011
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 1 APR 2011
  4. Manuscript Revised: 30 MAR 2011
  5. Manuscript Received: 22 FEB 2011

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Keywords:

  • atmospheric transport;
  • carbon cycle;
  • inversion;
  • isentropic coordinates;
  • synoptic weather;
  • tracer modeling

[1] Atmospheric mixing ratios of CO2 are strongly seasonal in the Arctic due to mid-latitude transport. Here we analyze the seasonal influence of moist synoptic storms by diagnosing CO2 transport from a global model on moist isentropes (to represent parcel trajectories through stormtracks) and parsing transport into eddy and mean components. During winter when northern plants respire, warm moist air, high in CO2, is swept poleward into the polar vortex, while cold dry air, low in CO2, that had been transported into the polar vortex earlier in the year is swept equatorward. Eddies reduce seasonality in mid-latitudes by ∼50% of NEE (∼100% of fossil fuel) while amplifying seasonality at high latitudes. Transport along stormtracks is correlated with rising, moist, cloudy air, which systematically hides this CO2 transport from satellites. We recommend that (1) regional inversions carefully account for meridional transport and (2) inversion models represent moist and frontal processes with high fidelity.

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