Chemistry-Climate Interactions in the Stratosphere
Summary
The stratosphere, extending roughly from 10 to 50 km altitude, plays a pivotal role in Earth’s climate system through complex feedbacks between its chemical composition and dynamical processes. Key chemical species such as ozone, nitrous oxide and halogenated compounds influence radiative balance by absorbing ultraviolet and infrared radiation, thereby modulating temperature gradients and circulation patterns. In turn, those circulation patterns govern the distribution and lifetime of trace gases via upwelling in the tropics, poleward transport and subsidence in high latitudes. Heterogeneous reactions on polar stratospheric clouds contribute to seasonal ozone depletion, while rising greenhouse gas concentrations cool the upper stratosphere and alter wave propagation, impacting the strength of the Brewer–Dobson circulation. The resulting changes in mean age of air and trace‐gas abundances feed back on ozone recovery, climate forcing and surface ultraviolet fluxes. Recent advances in satellite and in situ observations, alongside high‐resolution chemistry–climate models, have sharpened our understanding of transport diagnostics, chemical loss processes and long‐term trends. These insights are critical for assessing the efficacy of ozone protection measures and predicting future climate–chemistry feedbacks under diverse greenhouse gas pathways.
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Chemistry-Climate Interactions in the Stratosphere publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in chemistry-climate interactions in the stratosphere across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Brewer–Dobson circulation: A global overturning circulation that transports air from the tropics to the extratropics in the stratosphere.
Mean age of air: A metric indicating the average time since air parcels entered the stratosphere, used to assess transport strength.
Radiative forcing: The change in net radiative flux at the tropopause due to a perturbation in atmospheric constituents.
Heterogeneous chemistry: Chemical reactions occurring on particle surfaces, such as those on polar stratospheric clouds that trigger ozone depletion.
Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation: A periodic reversal of zonal winds in the tropical stratosphere that modulates vertical transport and tracer distributions.
Nitrous oxide (N2O): A long‐lived greenhouse gas that also contributes to stratospheric ozone destruction via NOx production.
References
- Age of Stratospheric Air: Progress on Processes, Observations, and Long‐Term Trends. Reviews of Geophysics (2024).
- Global agricultural N2O emission reduction strategies deliver climate benefits with minimal impact on stratospheric O3 recovery. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2024).
- Observed changes in stratospheric circulation: decreasing lifetime of N2O, 2005–2021. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2023).
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