Definition of the tropopause height in the South‐Eastern Mediterranean region

The location of the tropopause height, as well as its variability, is important in the understanding of the interaction between the troposphere and stratosphere in terms of the exchange of chemical species between the two atmospheric regions. This information depends on the availability of the vertical profiles of temperature and humidity in the atmosphere, profiles which are traditionally obtained with the use of radiosondes and which are often limited temporally and spatially. Definition of the tropopause height in the region of south‐eastern Mediterranean (15–30°E and 32,5–42,5°N) as extracted from potential vorticity (PV) and potential temperature (FT) profiles on the one hand, and the temperature values obtained from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) instrument—on board the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) satellite—on the other hand is attempted. Good agreement (with the exception of summer months) is found in the estimation of tropopause height from the use of satellite measurements and potential vorticity calculations; the use of satellite data for the definition of the tropopause height, especially in areas where lack of ground measurements exists, is thus validated.