Reply on RC1

TL;DR: In this article , the authors investigate the temporal evolution of enhanced water vapor being transported into the stratosphere using both a microphysical and an idealized freeze-drying model and show that these extremely high water vapor values observed above the local cold point tropopause are very likely to undergo significant further freeze drying due to experiencing extremely cold temperatures while circulating in the anticyclonic dehydration carousel.

Abstract: <strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> During the StratoClim Geophysica campaign, air with total water mixing ratios up to 200 ppmv and ozone up to 250 ppbv was observed within the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone up to 1.7 km above the local cold point tropopause (CPT). To investigate the temporal evolution of enhanced water vapor being transported into the stratosphere, we conduct forward trajectory simulations using both a microphysical and an idealized freeze-drying model. The models are initialized at the measurement locations and the evolution of water vapor and ice is compared with satellite observations of MLS and CALIPSO. Our results show that these extremely high water vapor values observed above the CPT are very likely to undergo significant further freeze-drying due to experiencing extremely cold temperatures while circulating in the anticyclonic dehydration carousel. We also use the Lagrangian dry point (LDP) of the merged backward and forward trajectories to reconstruct the water vapor fields. The results show that the extremely high water vapor mixed in with the stratospheric air has a negligible impact on the overall water vapor budget. The LDPs are a better proxy for the large-scale water vapor distributions in the stratosphere during this period.