A. E. Dessler

ESSIC, University of Maryland

Abstract:

I will review the state of our knowledge of water vapor in the middle atmosphere.
The source of water in this region istransport from the troposphere and oxidation
of methane. The primary sink is transport back to the troposphere. Water vapor
plays an important role in the chemistry of this region as a source of OH and as a
primary component of the particles on which heterogeneous chemistry takes place.
As a result, middle atmospheric water vapor helps determine the abundance of
stratospheric ozone and the size of the annual polar ozone holes. Recent observations
of increasing abundances of stratospheric water vapor and their potentially significant
repercussions for stratospheric ozone will be discussed. Finally, I will speculate on
future research directions for middle atmospheric water and the role WACCM can play.