Polar Stratospheric Clouds Satellite Observations, Processes, and Role in Ozone Depletion

Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) play important roles in stratospheric ozone depletion during winter and spring at high latitudes (e.g., the Antarctic ozone hole). PSC particles provide sites for heterogeneous reactions that convert stable chlorine reservoir species to radicals that destroy ozone catalytically. PSCs also prolong ozone depletion by delaying chlorine deactivation through the removal of gas-phase HNO$_{3}$ and H$_{2}$O by sedimentation of large nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) and ice particles. Contemporary observations by the spaceborne instruments Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) have provided an unprecedented polar vortex-wide climatological view of PSC occurrence and composition in both hemispheres. These data have spurred advances in our understanding of PSC formation and related dynamical processes, especially the firm evidence of widespread heterogeneous nucleation of both NAT and ice PSC particles, perhaps on nuclei of meteoritic origin. Heterogeneous chlorine activation appears to be well understood. Reaction coefficients on/in liquid droplets have been measured accurately, and while uncertainties remain for reactions on solid NAT and ice particles, they are considered relatively unimportant since under most conditions chlorine activation occurs on/in liquid droplets. There have been notable advances in the ability of chemical transport and chemistry-climate models to reproduce PSC temporal/spatial distributions and composition observed from space. Continued spaceborne PSC observations will facilitate further improvements in the representation of PSC processes in global models and enable more accurate projections of the evolution of polar ozone and the global ozone layer as climate changes

MIPAS IMK/IAA CFC-11 (CCl₃F) and CFC-12 (CCl₂F₂) measurements: accuracy, precision and long-term stability

Profiles of CFC-11 (CCl3F) and CFC-12 (CCl2F2) of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) abord the European satellite Envisat have been retrieved from versions MIPAS/4.61–MIPAS/4.62 and MIPAS/5.02–MIPAS/5.06 level-1b data using the scientific level-2 processor run by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA). These profiles have been compared to measurements taken by the balloon borne Cryosampler, Mark IV (MkIV) and MIPAS-Balloon (MIPAS-B), the airborne MIPAS stratospheric aircraft (MIPAS-STR), the satellite borne Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and the High Resolution Dynamic Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) as well as the ground based Halocarbon and other Atmospheric Trace Species (HATS) network for the reduced spectral resolution period (RR: January 2005–April 2012) of MIPAS Envisat. ACE-FTS, MkIV and HATS also provide measurements during the high spectral resolution period (FR: July 2002–March 2004) and were used to validate MIPAS Envisat CFC-11 and CFC-12 products during that time, as well as ILAS-II profiles. In general, we find that MIPAS Envisat shows slightly higher values for CFC-11 at the lower end of the profiles (below ~ 15 km) and in a comparison of HATS ground-based data and MIPAS Envisat measurements at 3 km below the tropopause. Differences range from approximately 10–50 pptv (~ 5–20 %) during the RR period. In general, differences are slightly smaller for the FR period. An indication of a slight high-bias at the lower end of the profile exists for CFC-12 as well, but this bias is far less pronounced than for CFC-11, so that differences at the lower end of the profile (below ~ 15 km) and in the comparison of HATS and MIPAS Envisat measurements taken at 3 km below the tropopause mainly stay within 10–50 pptv (~ 2–10 %) for the RR and the FR period. Above approximately 15 km, most comparisons are close to excellent, apart from ILAS-II, which shows large differences above ~ 17 km. Overall, percentage differences are usually smaller for CFC-12 than for CFC-11. For both species – CFC-11 and CFC-12 – we find that differences at the lower end of the profile tend to be larger at higher latitudes than in tropical and subtropical regions. In addition, MIPAS Envisat profiles have a maximum in the mixing ratio around the tropopause, which is most obvious in tropical mean profiles. Estimated measurement noise alone can, in most cases, not explain the standard deviation of the differences. This is attributed to error components not considered in the error estimate and also to natural variability which always plays a role when the compared instruments do not measure exactly the same air mass. Investigations concerning the temporal stability show very small negative drifts in MIPAS Envisat CFC-11 measurements. These drifts vary between ~ 1–3 % decade−1. For CFC-12, the drifts are also negative and close to zero up to ~ 30 km. Above that altitude larger drifts of up to ~ 50 % decade−1 appear which are negative up to ~ 35 km and positive, but of a similar magnitude, above

Validation of first chemistry mode retrieval results from new limb-imaging FTS GLORIA with correlative MIPAS-STR observations

We report first chemistry mode retrieval results from the new airborne limb-imaging infrared FTS (Fourier transform spectrometer) GLORIA (Gimballed Limb Observer for Radiance Imaging of the Atmosphere) and comparisons with observations by the conventional airborne limb-scanning infrared FTS MIPAS-STR (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding - STRatospheric aircraft). For GLORIA, the flights aboard the high-altitude research aircraft M55 Geophysica during the ESSenCe campaign (ESa Sounder Campaign 2011) were the very first in field deployment after several years of development. The simultaneous observations of GLORIA and MIPAS-STR during the flight on 16 December 2011 inside the polar vortex and under conditions of optically partially transparent polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) provided us the first opportunity to compare the observations by two different infrared FTS generations directly. We validate the GLORIA results with MIPAS-STR based on the lower vertical resolution of MIPAS-STR and compare the vertical resolutions of the instruments derived from their averaging kernels. The retrieval results of temperature, HNO3, O3, H2O, CFC-11 and CFC-12 show reasonable agreement of GLORIA with MIPAS-STR and collocated in situ observations. For the horizontally binned hyperspectral limb images, the GLORIA sampling outnumbered the horizontal cross-track sampling of MIPAS-STR by up to 1 order of magnitude. Depending on the target parameter, typical vertical resolutions of 0.5 to 2.0 km were obtained for GLORIA and are typically a factor of 2 to 4 better compared to MIPAS-STR. While the improvement of the performance, characterization and data processing of GLORIA are the subject of ongoing work, the presented first results already demonstrate the considerable gain in sampling and vertical resolution achieved with GLORIA

MIPAS IMK/IAA CFC-11 (CCl₃F) and CFC-12 (CCl₂F₂) measurements: Accuracy, precision and long-term stability

Profiles of CFC-11 (CCl$_{3}$F) and CFC-12 (CCl$_{2}$F$_{2}$) of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) aboard the European satellite Envisat have been retrieved from versions MIPAS/4.61 to MIPAS/ 4.62 and MIPAS/5.02 to MIPAS/5.06 level-1b data using the scientific level-2 processor run by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA). These profiles have been compared to measurements taken by the balloon-borne cryosampler, Mark IV (MkIV) and MIPAS-Balloon (MIPAS-B), the airborne MIPAS-STRatospheric aircraft (MIPAS-STR), the satellite-borne Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and the High Resolution Dynamic Limb Sounder (HIRDLS), as well as the groundbased Halocarbon and other Atmospheric Trace Species (HATS) network for the reduced spectral resolution period (RR: January 2005–April 2012) of MIPAS. ACE-FTS, MkIV and HATS also provide measurements during the high spectral resolution period (full resolution, FR: July 2002–March 2004) and were used to validate MIPAS CFC-11 and CFC- 12 products during that time, as well as profiles from the Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer, ILAS-II. In general, we find that MIPAS shows slightly higher values for CFC-11 at the lower end of the profiles (below 15 km) and in a comparison of HATS ground-based data and MIPAS measurements at 3 km below the tropopause. Differences range from approximately 10 to 50 pptv ( ~5–20 %) during the RR period. In general, differences are slightly smaller for the FR period. An indication of a slight high bias at the lower end of the profile exists for CFC-12 as well, but this bias is far less pronounced than for CFC-11 and is not as obvious in the relative differences between MIPAS and any of the comparison instruments. Differences at the lower end of the profile (below ~15 km) and in the comparison of HATS and MIPAS measurements taken at 3 km below the tropopause mainly stay within 10–50 pptv (corresponding to ~ 2–10% for CFC-12) for the RR and the FR period. Between ~15 and 30 km, most comparisons agree within 10–20 pptv (10–20 %), apart from ILAS-II, which shows large differences above ~17 km. Overall, relative differences are usually smaller for CFC-12 than for CFC-11. For both species – CFC-11 and CFC-12 – we find that differences at the lower end of the profile tend to be larger at higher latitudes than in tropical and subtropical regions. In addition, MIPAS profiles have a maximum in their mixing ratio around the tropopause, which is most obvious in tropical mean profiles. Comparisons of the standard deviation in a quiescent atmosphere (polar summer) show that only the CFC-12 FR error budget can fully explain the observed variability, while for the other products (CFC-11 FR and RR and CFC-12 RR) only two-thirds to three-quarters can be explained. Investigations regarding the temporal stability show very small negative drifts in MIPAS CFC-11 measurements. These instrument drifts vary between ~1 and 3% decade$^{-1}$. For CFC-12, the drifts are also negative and close to zero up to ~30 km. Above that altitude, larger drifts of up to 50% decade$^{-1}$ appear which are negative up to ~35 km and positive, but of a similar magnitude, above

The novel RAGE interactor PRAK is associated with autophagy signaling in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis

BACKGROUND: The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) has been found to interact with amyloid β (Aβ). Although RAGE does not have any kinase motifs in its cytosolic domain, the interaction between RAGE and Aβ triggers multiple cellular signaling involved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the mechanism of signal transduction by RAGE remains still unknown. Therefore, identifying binding proteins of RAGE may provide novel therapeutic targets for AD. RESULTS: In this study, we identified p38-regulated/activated protein kinase (PRAK) as a novel RAGE interacting molecule. To investigate the effect of Aβ on PRAK mediated RAGE signaling pathway, we treated SH-SY5Y cells with monomeric form of Aβ. We demonstrated that Aβ significantly increased the phosphorylation of PRAK as well as the interaction between PRAK and RAGE. We showed that knockdown of PRAK rescued mTORC1 inactivation induced by Aβ treatment and decreased the formation of Aβ-induced autophagosome. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that PRAK plays a critical role in AD pathology as a key interactor of RAGE. Thus, our data suggest that PRAK might be a potential therapeutic target of AD involved in RAGE-mediated cell signaling induced by Aβ. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13024-016-0068-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Nitrification of the lowermost stratosphere during the exceptionally cold Arctic winter 2015-2016

The Arctic winter 2015–2016 was characterized by exceptionally low stratospheric temperatures, favouring the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) from mid-December until the end of February down to low stratospheric altitudes. Observations by GLORIA (Gimballed Limb Observer for Radiance Imaging of the Atmosphere) on HALO (High Altitude and LOng range research aircraft) during the PGS (POLSTRACC–GW-LCYCLE II–SALSA) campaign from December 2015 to March 2016 allow the investigation of the influence of denitrification on the lowermost stratosphere (LMS) with a high spatial resolution. Two-dimensional vertical cross sections of nitric acid (HNO3) along the flight track and tracer–tracer correlations derived from the GLORIA observations document detailed pictures of wide-spread nitrification of the Arctic LMS during the course of an entire winter. GLORIA observations show large-scale structures and local fine structures with enhanced absolute HNO3 volume mixing ratios reaching up to 11 ppbv at altitudes of 13 km in January and nitrified filaments persisting until the middle of March. Narrow coherent structures tilted with altitude of enhanced HNO3, observed in mid-January, are interpreted as regions recently nitrified by sublimating HNO3-containing particles. Overall, extensive nitrification of the LMS between 5.0 and 7.0 ppbv at potential temperature levels between 350 and 380 K is estimated. The GLORIA observations are compared with CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere) simulations. The fundamental structures observed by GLORIA are well reproduced, but differences in the fine structures are diagnosed. Further, CLaMS predominantly underestimates the spatial extent of HNO3 maxima derived from the GLORIA observations as well as the overall nitrification of the LMS. Sensitivity simulations with CLaMS including (i) enhanced sedimentation rates in case of ice supersaturation (to resemble ice nucleation on nitric acid trihydrate (NAT)), (ii) a global temperature offset, (iii) modified growth rates (to resemble aspherical particles with larger surfaces) and (iv) temperature fluctuations (to resemble the impact of small-scale mountain waves) slightly improved the agreement with the GLORIA observations of individual flights. However, no parameter could be isolated which resulted in a general improvement for all flights. Still, the sensitivity simulations suggest that details of particle microphysics play a significant role for simulated LMS nitrification in January, while air subsidence, transport and mixing become increasingly important for the simulated HNO3 distributions towards the end of the winter