Boundary layer sources for the Asian anticyclone: Regional contributions to a vertical conduit

Transport occurs through a well-defined conduit centered over the southern Tibetan plateau, where convection lofts air parcels into the anticyclone. The conduit, as a dynamical feature, is distinct from the anticyclone.

Thus, while the anticyclone influences transport through the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, it does not by itself define a transport pipeline through that region. To quantify model sensitivities, parcel trajectories are calculated using wind fields from multiple analysis data sets (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, National Center for Environmental Prediction's Global Forecasting System, and NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications [MERRA]) and from synthetically modified data sets that explore the roles of vertical motion and horizontal resolution for discrepancies among these calculations.