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Water Vapour Pollution in the Stratosphere by the Supersonic Transporter ?

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Abstract

ENTRY of water vapour into the stratosphere has hitherto been controlled by natural processes. Air is usually transferred from the upper troposphere to the lower stratosphere by large scale rising motions which are part of the tropical Hadley cell circulation. It passes through a region near the tropical tropopause where the temperature is extremely cold, typically 193 K, and moisture is precipitated out in the form of ice crystals. Stratospheric air therefore has very low mixing ratios, typically 2 × 10−6 g of H2O per g of air1,2. Changes in the temperature at the tropical tropopause are accompanied by changes in the moisture content of air in the lower stratosphere, low moisture values being associated with low temperatures2. These temperatures, in turn, seem to be controlled by the intensity of the tropical Hadley cell circulation3,4, with the January values in both hemispheres being lower than those in July5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139

    REGINALD E. NEWELL

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  1. REGINALD E. NEWELL
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NEWELL, R. Water Vapour Pollution in the Stratosphere by the Supersonic Transporter ?. Nature 226, 70–71 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/226070a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/226070a0

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