Stratosphere-troposphere exchange of ozone associated with the equatorial Kelvin wave as observed with ozonesondes and rawinsondes

An intensive observation with ozonesondes and rawinsondes was conducted in Indonesia in May and June 1995 to investigate a phenomenon of ozone enhancement in the tropical upper troposphere. We obtained the characteristics of an enhancement that continued for about 20 days, concurring with a zonal wind oscillation associated with the equatorial Kelvin wave around the tropopause and the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) in the troposphere. The isoline of ozone mixing ratio of 40 nmol/mol moved by 5.0 km downward from 17.8 km to 12.8 km, while the tropopause height was 16.2-17.8 km throughout the period. Moreover, the maximum ozone concentration of 300 nmol/mol at the tropopause was concurrent with the maximum eastward wind phase of the Kelvin wave. The detailed mechanism of the ozone transport is interpreted as follows: The downward motion associated with the Kelvin wave and the MJO transported the stratospheric ozone into the troposphere, and the air mixing due to the Kelvin wave breaking at the tropopause also caused stratosphere-troposphere exchange. The upper limit of the net amount of ozone transported from the stratosphere was estimated to be 9.9 Dobson units with the zonal and meridional extents of the ozone-increased region of more than 6.6×10⁶ m and 1.8×10⁶ m, respectively, to imply the potential to affect the photochemistry around the tropical tropopause.