3-D Transport-Chemistry Studies of the Stratosphere Using Satellite Data Together with Data Assimilation

The use of 3-D assimilation model-derived dynamics in transport-chemistry models is a relatively new research methodology that has been used to interpret aircraft, ground-based remote sensing, balloon, and satellite data for the stratosphere. The unique aspect of these studies is that since the output of the assimilation procedure is a statistically optimal representation of dynamics, the time-varying output from this type of transport-chemistry model may be compared with sequences of actual observations. Some applications of this technique are presented relating to LIMS observations of nitric acid; the relation of satellite observed fields to model results; studies of the stratospheric ozone budget; and study of polar processing in relation to UARS CIO data.