Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 3 2 2003 10.5194/acpd-3-1557-2003 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/3/1557/2003/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/3/1557/2003/acpd-3-1557-2003.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/3/1557/2003/acpd-3-1557-2003.pdf 1557 1578 2003-03-19 Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs): I. Cloud morphology and occurrence T. Peter B. P. Luo H. Wernli M. Wirth C. Kiemle H. Flentje V. A. Yushkov V. Khattatov V. Rudakov A. Thomas S. Borrmann G. Toci P. Mazzinghi J. Beuermann C. Schiller F. Cairo G. Di Don-francesco P. Mazzinghi J. Beuermann C. Schiller F. Cairo G. Di Don-francesco A. Adriani C. M. Volk J. Strom K. Noone V. Mitev R. A. MacKenzie K. S. Carslaw T. Trautmann V. Santacesaria L. Stefanutti Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland Institute for Atmospheric Physics, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany Central Aerological Observatory, Moscow, Russia Institute for Atmospheric Physics, University of Mainz, Germany Quantum Electronics Institute, National Research Council (IEQ-CNR), Florence, Italy National Institute of Applied Optics, Florence, Italy Institute I: Stratosphere, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany Institute for Atmospheric Science and Climate, CNR, Roma, Italy ENEA Casaccia, Roma, Italy Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik, Universität Frankfurt, Germany Institute of Applied Environmental Research, Stockholm University, Sweden Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Sweden Observatoire Cantonal, Neuchâtel, Switzerland Environmental Science Department, Lancaster University, UK School of the Environment, University of Leeds, UK Institute of Meteorology, University of Leipzig, Germany IROE – CNR “Nello Carrara", Firenze, Italy Geophysica-GEIE – CNR, Firenze, Italy Subvisible cirrus clouds (SVCs) may contribute to dehydration close to the tropical tropopause. The higher and colder SVCs and the larger their ice crystals, the more likely they represent the last efficient point of contact of the gas phase with the ice phase and, hence, the last dehydrating step, before the air enters the stratosphere. The first simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of SVCs were taken during the APE-THESEO campaign in the western Indian ocean in February/March 1999. The observed clouds, termed Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs), belong to the geometrically and optically thinnest large-scale clouds in the Earth's atmosphere. Individual UTTCs may exist for many hours as an only 200–300 m thick cloud layer just a few hundred meters below the tropical cold point tropopause, covering up to 10⁵ km². With temperatures as low as 181 K these clouds are prime representatives for defining the water mixing ratio of air entering the lower stratosphere.