THE METEOROLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE TROPOSPHERIC OZONE MAXIMUM OVER THE TROPICAL SOUTH-ATLANTIC OCEAN

Atmospheric flow patterns are examined over the South Atlantic Ocean where a maximum of tropospheric ozone has been observed just west of southern Africa. We investigate the flow climatology during October and perform a case study for 6 days during October 1989. Analyses from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting are employed, and a high-resolution global spectral model is used to prepare forecasts during the period. Horizontal and vertical motions are examined and used to prepare three-dimensional backward trajectories from the region of greatest ozone. An initially zonally symmetric distribution of ozone is treated as a passive tracer and advected by three-dimensional flows forecast by the global model, Results from the passive tracer simulation indicate that three-dimensional advection alone can produce a maximum of tropospheric ozone in the observed location. In addition, the trajectories suggest that by-products of biomass burning could be transported to the area of maximum ozone. Low-level flow from commonly observed regions of burning in Africa streams westward to the area of interest. Over Brazil, if the burning by-products are carried into the upper troposphere by convective process, they then could be transported eastward to the ozone feature in approximately 5 days. There is considerable subsidence over the tropical southern Atlantic, such that stratospheric influences also are a factor in producing the ozone maximum. Both planetary-scale and transient synoptic-scale circulation features play major roles in the various transport processes that influence the region. In summary, the observed tropospheric ozone maximum appears to be caused by a complex set of horizontal and vertical advections, transport from regions of biomass burning, and stratospheric influences.