Abstract
In this paper we describe a technique for estimating chemical ozone loss in the Arctic vortex. Observed ozone and temperature profiles are combined with the model potential vorticity field to produce time series of vortex averaged ozone mixing ratios on chosen isentropic surfaces. Model-derived radiative heating rates and observed vertical gradients of ozone are then used to estimate the change in ozone that would occur due to diabatic descent. Discrepancies with the observed ozone are interpreted as being of chemical origin, assuming that there is negligible horizontal transport or mixing of air into the vortex. The technique is illustrated using ozone sonde measurements collected during the 1991/92 European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE), meteorological analyses from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and radiative heating rates extracted from the Global Atmospheric Modelling Programme (UGAMP) 3D General Circulation Model. Our results show that there was photochemical ozone destruction inside the Arctic vortex in early 1992 with a loss between 475 K and 550 K (around 20 km) of 0.32±0.15 ppmv in the first 20 days of January, equivalent to a rate of 0.51±0.24%/day (at the 95% confidence level).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bauer, R., Engel, A., Franken, H., Klein, E., Kulessa, G., Schiller, C., Schmidt, U., Borchers, R., and Lee, J., 1994: Monitoring the vertical structure of the Arctic polar vortex over northern Scandinavia during EASOE: regular N2Oprofile observations, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1211–1214.
Braathen, G. O., Rummukainen, M., Kyrö, E., Schmidt, U., Dahlback, A., Jørgensen, T. S., Fabian, R., Rudakov, V. V., Gil, M., and Borchers, R., 1994: Temporal development of ozone within the Arctic vortex during the winter of 1991/92, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1407–1410.
Browell, E. V., Butler, C. F., Fenn, M. A., Grant, W. B., Ismail, S., Schoeberl, M. R., Toon, O. B., Loewenstein, M., and Podolske, J. R., 1993: Ozone and aerosol changes during the 1991-1992 Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition, Science 261, 1155–1158.
Carver, G. D., Norton, W. A., and Pyle, J. A., 1994: A case study in forecasting the stratospheric vortex during EASOE, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1451–1454.
Chipperfield, M. P., Cariolle, D., and Simon, P., 1994: A 3D chemical transport model study of chlorine activation during EASOE, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1467–1470.
Chipperfield, M. P., Lee, A. M., and Pyle, J. A., 1996: Model calculation of ozone depletion in the Arctic polar vortex for 1991/92 to 1994/95, Geophys. Res. Lett. 23, 559–562.
von der Gathen, P., Rex, M., Harris, N. R. P., Lucic, D., Knudsen, B., Braathen, G. O., De Backer, H., Fabian, R., Fast, H., Gil, M., Kyrö, E., Mikkelsen, I. S., Rummukainen, M., Staehelin, J., and Varotsos, C., 1995: Chemical depletion of ozone observed in the Arctic Vortex during the 1991/1992 winter, Nature 375, 131–134.
Geleyn, J. F. and Hollingsworth, A., 1979: An economical analytical method for the computation of the interaction between scattering and line absorption of radiation, Beitr. Phys. Atmos. 52, 1–16.
Hadjinicolaou, P., Pyle, J. A., Chipperfield, M. P., and Kettleborough, J. A., 1997: Effects of interannual variability on midlatitude ozone, Geophys. Res. Lett. 24, 2993–2996.
Harris, N. R. P., Ancellet, G., Bishop, L., Hofmann, D. J., Kerr, J. B., McPeters, R. D., Prendez, M., Randel, W., Staehelin, J., Subbaraya, B. H., Volz-Thomas, A., Zawodny, J., and Zerefos, C. S., 1997: Trends in stratospheric and tropospheric ozone, J. Geophys. Res. 102, 1571–1590.
Hartmann, D. L., Heidt, L. E., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J. R., Vedder, J., Starr, W. L., and Strahan, S. E., 1989: Transport into the south polar vortex in early spring, J. Geophys. Res. 94, 16779–16796.
Hood, L. L. and Zaff, D. A., 1995: Lower stratospheric waves and the longitude dependence of ozone trends in winter, J. Geophys. Res. 100, 25791–25800.
Hood, L. L., McCormack, J. P., and Labitzke, K., 1997: An investigation of dynamical contributions to midlatitude ozone trends in winter, J. Geophys. Res. 102, 13079–13093.
Jones, R. L., Avallone, L., Froidevaux, L., Godin, S., Gray, L., Kinne, S., McIntyre, M. E., Newman, P. A., Plumb, R. A., Pyle, J. A., Russell, J. M., Tolbert, M., Toumi, R., Tuck, A. F., Wennberg, P., 1995: Chapter 4: Tropical and mid-latitude ozone, WMO-UNEP.
Kerr, J. B., Fast, H., McElroy, C. T., Oltmans, S. J., Lathrop, J. A., Kyrö, E., Paukkunen, A., Claude, H., Kohler, U., Sreedharan, C. R., Takao, T., and Tsukagoshi, Y., 1994: The 1991 WMO international ozonesonde intercomparison at Vanscoy, Canada, Atmos. Ocean 22, 685–716.
Komhyr, W. D., Oltmans, S. J., Chopra, A. N., and Franchois, P. R., 1984: Performance characteristics of high-altitude ECC ozone sondes, Atmospheric Ozone, Proceedings of the Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, held in Halkidiki, Greece, 3-7 September, 1984, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland, pp. 409–503.
Knudsen, B. P., von der Gathen, P., Braathen, G. O., Fabian, R., Jørgensen, T. S., Kyrö, E., Neuber, R., and Rummukainen, M., 1994: Temporal development of the correlation between ozone and potential vorticity in the Arctic in the winters of 1988/89 1989/90 and 1990/91, Proc. Quad. Ozone Symp. 1992, NASA conference publication 3266, pp. 504–507.
Knudsen, B. M., Mikkelsen, I. S., Morcrette, J.-J., Braathen, G. O., Hansen, G., Fast, H., Gernandt, H., Kanzawa, H., Nakane, H., Kyro, E., Dorokhov, V., Yushkov, V., Shearman, R. J., and Gil, M., 1998: Ozone depletion in and below the Arctic vortex for 1997, Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 627–630.
Lutman, E. R., Toumi, R., Jones, R. L., Lary, D., and Pyle, J. A., 1994: Box model studies of ClOx deactivation and ozone loss during the 1991/92 northern hemisphere winter, Geophys. Res. Lett. 13, 1415–1418.
McIntyre, M. E., 1980: Towards a Lagrangian mean description of stratospheric circulations and chemical transports, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London Series A 296, 129–148.
Morcrette, J.-J., 1989: Description of the radiation scheme in the ECMWF model, Tech. Memo. 165, 26 pp., Res. Dep., Eur. Cent. for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, England.
Morcrette, J.-J., 1991: Radiation and cloud radiative properties in the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts forecasting system, J. Geophys. Res. 96(D5), 9121–9132 (20 May).
Morcrette, J.-J., 1990: Impact of changes to the radiation transfer parameterizations plus cloud optical properties in the ECMWF model, Mon. Weather Rev. 118, 847–873.
Müller, R., Peter, Th., Crutzen, P. J., Oelhaf, H., Adrian, G. P., Clarkmann, Th. V., Wegner, A., Schmidt, U., and Lary, D., 1994: Chlorine chemistry and the potential for ozone depletion in the Arctic stratosphere in the winter of 1991/92, Geophys. Res. Lett. 13, 1427–1430.
Müller, R., Crutzen, P. J., Grooß, J. U., Brühl, C., Russell, J. M. III, and Tuck, A. F., 1996: Chlorine activation and ozone depletion in the Arctic vortex: Observations by the Halogen Occultation Experiment on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, J. Geophys. Res. 101, 12531–12554.
Neuber, R., Beyerle, G., Fiocco, G., di Sarra, A., Fricke, K. H., David, C., Godin, S., Knudsen, B. M., Stefanutti. L., Vaughan, G., and Wolf, J.-P., 1994: Latitudinal distribution of Stratospheric aerosols during the EASOE winter 1991/92, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1283–1286.
O'Neill, A., Grose, W. L., Pope, V. D., Maclean, H., and Swinbank, R., 1994: Evolution of the stratosphere during northern winter 1991/92 as diagnosed from the U.K. Meteorological Office Analyses, J. Atmos. Sci. 51, 2800–2817.
Petzoldt, K., Naujokat, B., and Neugebohren, K., 1994: Correlation between stratospheric temperature, total ozone, and tropospheric weather systems, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1203–1206.
Plumb, R. A., Waugh, D. W., Atkinson, R. J., Newman, P. A., Lait, L. R., Schoeberl, M. R., Browell, E. V., Simmons, A. J., and Lowenstein, M., 1994: Intrusions into the lower stratospheric Arctic vortex during the winter of 1991/1992, J. Geophys. Res. 99, 1089–1106.
Proffitt, M. H., Aikin, K., Margitan, J. J., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J. R., Weaver, A., Chan, K. R., Fast, H., and Elkins, J. W., 1993: Ozone loss inside the northern polar vortex during the 1991-1992 winter, Science 261, 1150–1154.
Pyle, J. A., Carver, G. D., and Schmidt, U., 1994: Some case studies of chlorine activation during the EASOE campaigns, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1431–1434.
Randel, W. J. and Wu, F., 1995: TOMS total ozone trends in potential vorticity coordinates, Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 683–686.
Reid, S. J., Vaughan, G., Mitchell, N. J., Prichard, I. T., Smit, H. J., Jorgensen, T. S., Varotsos, C., and de Backer, H., 1994: Distribution of ozone laminae during EASOE and the possible influence of inertia gravity waves, Geophys. Res. Lett. 21, 1479–1482.
Rex, M., von der Gathen, P., Harris, N. R. P., Lucic, D., Knudsen, B. M., Braathen, G. O., Reid, S. J., De Backer, H., Claude, H., Fabian, R., Fast, H., Gil, M., Kyrö, E., St. Mikkelsen, I., Rummukainen, M., Smit, H. G., Stæhelin, C., Varotsos, C., and Zaitcev, I., 1998: In-situ measurements of stratospheric ozone depletion rates in the Arctic winter 1991/92: a Lagrangian approach, J. Geophys. Res. 103, 5843–5853.
Rex, M., Harris, N. R. P., von der Gathen, P., Lehmann, R., Braathen, G. O., Reimer, E., Beck, A., Chipperfield, M. P., Alfier, R., Allaart, M., O'Connor, F., Dier, H., Dorokhov, V., Fast, H., Gil, M., Kyrö, E., Litynska, Z., Mikkelsen, I. S., Molyneux, M. G., Notholt, J., Rummukainen, M., Viatte, P., and Wenger, J., Prolonged stratospheric ozone loss in the 1995-96 Arctic winter, Nature 389, 835–838.
Rex, M., von der Gathen, P., Braathen, G. O., Reid, S. J., Harris, N. R. P., Chipperfield, M., Reimer, E., Beck, A., Alfier, R., Kruger-Carstensen, R., De Backer, H., Balis, D., Zerefos, C., O'Connor, F., Dier, H., Dorokhov, V., Fast, H., Gamma, A., Gil, M., Kyrö, E., Rummukainen, M., Litynska, Z., Mikkelsen, I. S., Molyneux, M., and Murphy, G., 1999: Chemical ozone loss in the Arctic winter 1994/95 as determined by the match technique, J. Atmos. Chem. 32, 35–39.
Rosenfield, J. E., Newman, P. A., and Schoeberl, M. R., 1994: Computations of diabatic descent in the stratospheric polar vortex, J. Geophys. Res. 99, 16677–16689.
Salawitch, R. J., Wofsy, S. C., Gottlieb, E. W., Lait, L. R., Newman, P., Schoeberl, M. R., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J. R., Strahan, S. E., Proffitt, M. H., Webster, C. R., May, R. D., Fahey, D. W., Baumgardner, D., Dye, J. E., Wilson, J. C., Kelly, K. K., Elkins, J. W., Chan, K. R., and Anderson, J. G., Chemical loss of ozone in the Arctic polar vortex in the winter of 1991-1992, Science 261, 1146–1149.
Schoeberl, M. R., Lait, L. R., Newman, P. A., Proffitt, M. H., Hartmann, D. L., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J., Strahan, S. E., Anderson, J., Chan, K. R., and Gary, B., 1989: Stratospheric constituent trends from ER-2 flight observations, J. Geophys. Res. 94, 16815–16845.
Schoeberl, M. R., Lait, L. R., Newman, P. A., and Rosenfield, J. E., 1992: The structure of the polar vortex, J. Geophys. Res. 97(D8), 7859–7882.
Simmons, A. J., 1992: Development of a high resolution, semi-Lagrangian version of the ECMWF forecast model, Proc. 1991 ECMWF Seminar on Numerical Methods in Atmospheric Models II, pp. 281–324.
Simmons, A. J., 1993: Validation and development of the high resolution, semi-Lagrangian version of the ECMWF forecast model, Proc. 1992 ECMWF Seminar on Validation of Models over Europe I, pp. 153–182.
Solomon, S., Portmann, R.W., Garcia, R. R., Thomason, L.W., Poole, L. R., and McCormick, M. P., 1996: The role of aerosol variations in anthropogenic ozone depletion at northern mid-latitudes, J. Geophys. Res. 101, 6713–6727.
Tibaldi, S., Palmer, T. N., Brankovic, C., and Cubasch, U., 1990: Extended range predictions with ECMWF models 11: influence of horizontal resolution on systematic errors and forecast skill, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 116, 835–866.
Valero, F. P. J., Platnick, S., Kinne, S., Pielewskie, P., and Bucholtz, A., 1993: Airborne brightness temperature measurements of the polar winter troposphere as part of the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Experiment II and the effect of brightness temperature variations on the diabatic heating in the lower stratosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett. 20, 2575–2579.
Waters, J. W., Froidevaux, L., Read, W. G., Manney, G. L., Elson, L. S., Flower, D. A., Jarnot, R. F., and Harwood, R. S., 1993: Stratospheric ClO and ozone from the Microwave Limb Sounder on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, Nature 362, 597–602.
WMO-UNEP, 1995: Scientific assessment of ozone depletion: 1994, World Meteorological Organisation Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report No. 37.
Ziemke, J. R., Chandra, S., McPeters, R. D., and Newman, P. A., 1997: Dynamical proxies of column ozone with applications to global trend models, J. Geophys. Res. 102, 6117–6129.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lucic, D., Harris, N.R.P., Pyle, J.A. et al. A Technique for Estimating Polar Ozone Loss: Results for the Northern 1991/92 Winter Using EASOE Data. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 34, 365–383 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006273211790
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006273211790