Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 9 February 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5813, p. 733
DOI: 10.1126/science.315.5813.733e
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

This Week in Science

Figure 1 Atmospheric deep convection, which transports air from the surface to the upper troposphere is difficult to measure, and our understanding of this process has mainly been based on modeling. Bertram et al. (p. 816; published online 5 January; see the Perspective by Jaegle) provide direct observational constraints to the process, with measurements of a suite of trace gases and aerosols made in the summertime continental upper troposphere over the eastern United States and Canada. Using the distribution of chemical species whose kinetics are well understood to determine the amount of time that air spends in the upper troposphere, they calculated important dynamical parameters such as the extent to which convection perturbs the continental upper troposphere during summer, the fraction of boundary layer air present in convective outflow, and the convective overturn rate of the upper troposphere. These results present a challenge to current ideas about processes that control upper tropospheric ozone and its impact on climate.

CREDIT: BERTRAM ET AL.




ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)