Identification

Title

Development of tracer relations and chemical ozone loss during the setup phase of the polar vortex

Abstract

The development of tracer-tracer relations in the polar stratosphere is analyzed during the period when the vortex forms and a westerly circulation develops after polar summer (the setup phase of the polar vortex). We consider high southern latitudes from March to June for winter 1997 and 2003 and high northern latitudes from September to October 2003. ILAS and ILAS-II satellite observations and model simulations are used to investigate chemical changes in O₃, NO₂ and HNO₃ during these periods. Tracer-tracer relations and meteorological analyses consistently indicate a separation of the incipient polar vortex into two parts. The area within the edge of the inner vortex is isolated from the outer part that is still influenced by mixing with air of midlatitude origin. In the Antarctic in April, ozone concentrations vary by about 0.5 ppmv within the isolated inner vortex between 500 and 600 K potential temperature. This inhomogeneous distribution of ozone is likewise obvious in MIPAS satellite measurements. Box model simulations explain that the low ozone concentrations in April are caused by chemical ozone loss due to catalytic cycles which are mainly driven by NO x at this time of the year. The simulations also explain the observed conversion of NO x to HNO₃ during the setup phase of the 2003 Antarctic vortex. During June in the Antarctic, the internal vortex transport barrier disappears and ozone mixing ratios become homogeneous throughout the entire vortex. At that time, no further ozone loss occurs because of the lack of sunlight.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7hq405s

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

2006-12-20T00:00:00Z

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