Contrasting subtropical PV intrusion frequency and their impact on tropospheric Ozone distribution over Pacific Ocean in El-Niño and La-Niña conditions

Upper tropospheric equatorial westerly ducts over the Pacific Ocean are the preferred location for Rossby wave breaking events during boreal winter and spring. These subtropical wave breaking events lead to the intrusion of high PV (potential vorticity) air along the extra-tropical tropopause and transport ozone rich dry stratospheric air into the tropics. The intrusion frequency has strong interannual variability due to ENSO (El-Niño/Southern Oscillation), with more events under La-Niña and less under El-Niño conditions. This may result from stronger equatorial westerly ducts and subtropical jets during La-Niña and weaker during El-Niño. It was previously suggested that the interannual variability of the tropospheric ozone distribution over the central-eastern Pacific Ocean is mainly driven by convective activity related to ENSO and that the barotropic nature of the subtropical intrusions restricts the tracers within the UT. However, our analysis shows that tropospheric ozone concentration and subtropical intrusions account ~65% of the co- variability (below 5 km) in the outer tropical (10–25°N) central Pacific Ocean, particularly during La-Niña conditions. Additionally, we find a two-fold increase and westward shift in the intrusion frequency over the Pacific Ocean, due to the climate regime shift in SST pattern during 1997/98.