Stratospheric ozone intrusion

This animation by Alex Lupu (Environment and Climate Change Canada) and collaborators shows how stratospheric ozone can be transported into the troposphere during tropopause folding events and occasionally reach the ground. Such an event – known as a stratospheric ozone intrusion – occurred over the US southwest in June 2010. It has been simulated with Environment Canada’s high-resolution (10-km) regional air quality model GEM-MACH and is illustrated in this visualization as the time evolution of the modelled 100-ppb isosurface of ozone. Model output is hourly. Vertical exaggeration is about 300 times.