A recent JGR article by M. Holzer and L. Polvani uses the MATCH transport model to quantify the flux of idealized trace gases across the thermal tropopause as a function of their chemical lifetime. Emissions of the trace species are idealized as time dependent with either a generic anthropogenic pattern or a uniform ocean source. Globally averaged fluxes into the stratosphere normalized by surface emissions are dependent on the tropospheric chemistry, which is idealized as decay with a constant lifetime (τc). For τc=8 days and τc~140 days the fluxes are 1% and 30%, respectively. Interestingly, the flux patterns computed with MATCH are insensitive toτc~ and reveal preferred pathways into the stratosphere – divergent circulation feeding isentropic cross-tropopause transport and isentropic transport to high latitudes. Find the full abstract here.