Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere

Each summer the North American Monsoon Anticyclone (NAMA) dominates the circulation of the North-Western Hemisphere and acts to partially confine and isolate air from the surrounding atmosphere. Strong convective storms in the NAMA regularly penetrate deep into the lower stratosphere, with some ascending above 20 km. These storms carry water and pollutants from the troposphere into the normally very dry stratosphere, where they can have a significant impact on radiative and chemical processes, potentially including stratospheric ozone. The Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere (DCOTSS) field campaign is a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital research project aimed at investigating these thunderstorms. DCOTSS will utilize NASA’s ER-2 aircraft and will conduct three, 8-week science deployments based out of Salina, KS in each of three periods (spring, middle summer, and late summer). Each science deployment will consist of ten to twelve science flights.

Disciplines:   Field Campaigns

DCOTSS Publications

Smith J B, Wilmouth D M, Bedka K M, Bowman K P, Homeyer C R, Dykema J A, Sargent M R, Clapp C E, Leroy S S, Sayres D S, Dean‐Day J M, Paul Bui T and Anderson J G (2017). A case study of convectively sourced water vapor observed in the overworld stratosphere over the United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 122 (17), 9529. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017jd026831


Bedka K M and Khlopenkov K (2016). A Probabilistic Multispectral Pattern Recognition Method for Detection of Overshooting Cloud Tops Using Passive Satellite Imager Observations. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 55 (9), 1983. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jamc-d-15-0249.1


Homeyer C R, Bowman K P, Pan L L, Zondlo M A and Bresch J F (2011). Convective injection into stratospheric intrusions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 116 (D23), http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011jd016724


Siu L W and Bowman K P (2019). Forcing of the Upper-Tropospheric Monsoon Anticyclones. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 76 (7), 1937. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-18-0340.1


Liu N and Liu C (2016). Global distribution of deep convection reaching tropopause in 1 year GPM observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 121 (8), 3824. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015jd024430


Homeyer C R, McAuliffe J D and Bedka K M (2017). On the Development of Above-Anvil Cirrus Plumes in Extratropical Convection. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 74 (5), 1617. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-16-0269.1


Feng Z, Houze R A Jr, Leung L R, Song F, Hardin J C, Wang J, Gustafson W I Jr and Homeyer C R (2019). Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Large-Scale Environments of Mesoscale Convective Systems East of the Rocky Mountains. Journal of Climate, 32 (21), 7303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-19-0137.1


Anderson J G, Weisenstein D K, Bowman K P, Homeyer C R, Smith J B, Wilmouth D M, Sayres D S, Klobas J E, Leroy S S, Dykema J A and Wofsy S C (2017). Stratospheric ozone over the United States in summer linked to observations of convection and temperature via chlorine and bromine catalysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (25), http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619318114


Liu N and Liu C (2018). Synoptic Environments and Characteristics of Convection Reaching the Tropopause over Northeast China. Monthly Weather Review, 146 (3), 745. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/mwr-d-17-0245.1


Cooney J W, Bowman K P, Homeyer C R and Fenske T M (2018). Ten Year Analysis of Tropopause-Overshooting Convection Using GridRad Data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123 (1), 329. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017jd027718


Bedka K, Murillo E M, Homeyer C R, Scarino B and Mersiovsky H (2018). The Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume: An Important Severe Weather Indicator in Visible and Infrared Satellite Imagery. Weather and Forecasting, 33 (5), 1159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/waf-d-18-0040.1


Solomon D L, Bowman K P and Homeyer C R (2016). Tropopause-Penetrating Convection from Three-Dimensional Gridded NEXRAD Data. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 55 (2), 465. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jamc-d-15-0190.1