Vertical mixing in the lower troposphere by mountain waves over Arctic Scandinavia

Abstract

Abstract. Measurements made by ozonesondes and by a 52 MHz wind-profiling radar during February and March 1997 are studied. The radar is located at Esrange, near Kiruna in Arctic Sweden, on the eastern flank of the Scandinavian mountains. Daily ozonesondes were launched from the same site. The radar vertical and horizontal wind measurements are used to identify times when mountain waves were present. Mean vertical gradients in ozone mixing ratio in the lower troposphere are determined in conditions with mountain waves present and when they were absent. Back-trajectories were calculated so that only air-masses with their origin to the west of the mountains were included in the final averages. The vertical gradient in ozone mixing ratio is found to be about twice as steep outside wave conditions as it is during mountain waves. This suggests a very high rate of vertical mixing, with an average eddy diffusivity of order 5000 m2 s−1. This is consistent with an earlier estimate of the occurrence rate of complete mixing by wave breaking over the mountain range.