Identification

Title

Nighttime secondary ozone layer during major stratospheric sudden warmings in specified-dynamics WACCM

Abstract

A major stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) strongly impacts the entire middle atmosphere up to the thermosphere. Currently, the role of atmospheric dynamics on polar ozone in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) during SSWs is not well understood. Here we investigate the SSW-induced changes in the nighttime “secondary” (90-105 km) ozone maximum by examining the dynamics and distribution of key species (like H and O) important to ozone. We use output from the National Center for Atmospheric Research Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with “Specified Dynamics” (SD-WACCM), in which the simulation is constrained by meteorological reanalyses below 1 hPa. Composites are made based on six major SSW events with elevated stratopause episodes. Individual SSW cases of temperature and MLT nighttime ozone from the model are compared against the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry observations aboard the NASA's Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. The evolution of ozone and major chemical trace species is associated with the anomalous vertical residual motion during SSWs and consistent with photochemical equilibrium governing the MLT nighttime ozone. Just after SSW onset, enhanced upwelling adiabatically cools the polar region from 80 to 100 km and transports low H from below. These conditions promote a concentration increase in the secondary ozone layer. Subsequent downwelling from the lower thermosphere warms the MLT and enhances the descent of H from the thermospheric reservoir, thereby limiting the secondary ozone concentration increase. Negative correlation of secondary ozone with respect to temperature and H is more pronounced during winters with SSWs than during non-SSW winters.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d73r0trf

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2013-08-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact