The Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) Experiment

The Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) experiment was conducted from Guam (13.5°N, 144.8°E) during January–February 2014. Using the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V research aircraft, the experiment investigated the photochemical environment over the tropical western Pacific (TWP) warm pool, a region of massive deep convection and the major pathway for air to enter the stratosphere during Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter. The new observations provide a wealth of information for quantifying the influence of convection on the vertical distributions of active species. The airborne in situ measurements up to 15-km altitude fill a significant gap by characterizing the abundance and altitude variation of a wide suite of trace gases. These measurements, together with observations of dynamical and microphysical parameters, provide significant new data for constraining and evaluating global chemistry–climate models. Measurements include precursor and product gas species of reactive halogen compounds that impact ozone in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere. High-accuracy, in situ measurements of ozone obtained during CONTRAST quantify ozone concentration profiles in the upper troposphere, where previous observations from balloonborne ozonesondes were often near or below the limit of detection. CONTRAST was one of the three coordinated experiments to observe the TWP during January–February 2014. Together, CONTRAST, Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX), and Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST), using complementary capabilities of the three aircraft platforms as well as ground-based instrumentation, provide a comprehensive quantification of the regional distribution and vertical structure of natural and pollutant trace gases in the TWP during NH winter, from the oceanic boundary to the lower stratosphere.

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Author Pan, Laura L. ORCID icon
Atlas, E. L.
Salawitch, R. J.
Honomichl, Shawn B. ORCID icon
Bresch, James ORCID icon
Randel, William ORCID icon
Apel, Eric C. ORCID icon
Hornbrook, Rebecca ORCID icon
Weinheimer, Andrew ORCID icon
Anderson, D. C.
Andrews, S. J.
Baidar, S.
Beaton, Stuart
Campos, Teresa ORCID icon
Carpenter, L. J.
Chen, D.
Dix, B.
Donets, V.
Hall, Samuel R. ORCID icon
Hanisco, T. F.
Homeyer, C. R.
Huey, L. G.
Jensen, Jørgen B. ORCID icon
Kaser, Lisa ORCID icon
Kinnison, Douglas E. ORCID icon
Koenig, T. K.
Lamarque, Jean-François ORCID icon
Liu, C.
Luo, Jiali
Luo, Z. J.
Montzka, Denise D. ORCID icon
Nicely, J. M.
Pierce, R. B.
Riemer, D. D.
Robinson, T.
Romashkin, Pavel A.
Saiz-Lopez, A.
Schauffler, Sue ORCID icon
Shieh, O.
Stell, Meghan ORCID icon
Ullmann, Kirk ORCID icon
Vaughan, G.
Volkamer, R.
Wolfe, G.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library

Publication Date 2017-01-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
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Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2025-12-26T02:38:01.483468
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:19395
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Pan, Laura L., Atlas, E. L., Salawitch, R. J., Honomichl, Shawn B., Bresch, James, Randel, William, Apel, Eric C., Hornbrook, Rebecca, Weinheimer, Andrew, Anderson, D. C., Andrews, S. J., Baidar, S., Beaton, Stuart, Campos, Teresa, Carpenter, L. J., Chen, D., Dix, B., Donets, V., Hall, Samuel R., Hanisco, T. F., Homeyer, C. R., Huey, L. G., Jensen, Jørgen B., Kaser, Lisa, Kinnison, Douglas E., Koenig, T. K., Lamarque, Jean-François, Liu, C., Luo, Jiali, Luo, Z. J., Montzka, Denise D., Nicely, J. M., Pierce, R. B., Riemer, D. D., Robinson, T., Romashkin, Pavel A., Saiz-Lopez, A., Schauffler, Sue, Shieh, O., Stell, Meghan, Ullmann, Kirk, Vaughan, G., Volkamer, R., Wolfe, G.. (2017). The Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) Experiment. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d77h1mbs. Accessed 15 March 2026.

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