Stratosphere–troposphere exchange and surface ozone pollution over tropical regions: a case study of Rossby wave breaking and tropopause folding

Lopez-Bravo, Clemente; Caetano, Ernesto; Franco-Díaz, Armenia

doi:10.5194/wcd-7-1995-2026

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1995-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1995-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

Research article

|

13 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 13 Oct 2026

Stratosphere–troposphere exchange and surface ozone pollution over tropical regions: a case study of Rossby wave breaking and tropopause folding

Clemente Lopez-Bravo, Ernesto Caetano, and Armenia Franco-Díaz

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1995-2026-supplement

Data sets

OMPS-NPP L2 NM Ozone (O3) Total Column swath orbital V2 G. Jaross https://doi.org/10.5067/0WF4HAAZ0VHK

Model code and software

Skaderli/WaveBreaking: WaveBreaking v0.3.6 S. Kaderli https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14214463

Video supplement

Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange and Surface Ozone Pollution over Tropical Regions: A Case Study of Rossby Wave Breaking and Tropopause Folding C. Lopez-Bravo https://doi.org/10.5446/74035

Short summary

We investigated why pollution increased in Mexico City during March 2016. By examining weather conditions and air-movement pathways, we found that an unusual winter-like system, together with the surrounding mountains, brought ozone-rich air from higher in the atmosphere toward the city. This shows that weather disturbances far from the tropics can affect local air quality, highlighting the need to include these events in air-quality monitoring and forecasts.