The Relationship Between Stratosphere-Troposphere Interactions, Climate Dynamics, and Extreme Events

Stratosphere-troposphere interactions (coupling, transport, exchange) can contribute significantly to extreme events, including extreme heat and extreme cold, wildfires, pollution and transport of aerosols, extreme storms, and changes in sea ice. There is an increasing need to understand the interconnected nature of stratospheric dynamics and the changing climate, and how that propagates to tropospheric events on sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales and beyond (decadal timescales). Recent advances suggest that the prediction of extreme events in connection to both weather and climate can be improved when stratospheric circulation conditions are taken into account, but incorporating these complex dynamics into S2S forecasting remains challenging. Through this special collection, we seek to better understand the stratosphere-troposphere interactions in order to quantify these effects and incorporate them into weather and climate models.

We welcome Original Research articles as well as Reviews and Perspectives that explore the following themes, which include but are not limited to:

• The effect of stratospheric dynamics (e.g., “Brewer-Dobson” circulation, Quasi-biennial Oscillation, the polar vortex) on tropospheric events (e.g., storms, temperature, pollution, sea ice changes), individually or statistically.
• Incorporation of the transport of aerosols in models of dynamical coupling, emphasizing  the role of stratospheric forcing to extreme events for better predictability
• More sensitive prediction of stratospheric circulation itself on S2S timescales and under changing climate conditions
• Better understanding of how the thermodynamics of the stratosphere impact weather and climate
• More accurate quantification of stratosphere-troposphere exchange of (e.g., ozone and water vapor) owing to different synoptic and large-scale phenomena
• Simulations of the effect of stratosphere-troposphere exchange on outgoing longwave radiation