Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92
Long-term depletion of ozone has been observed since the early 1980s in the Antarctic polar vortex, and morerecently at midlatitudes in both hemispheres, with most of the ozone loss occurring in the lower stratosphere.Insufficient measurements of ozone exist, however, to determine decadal trends in...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:894 2023-09-05T13:13:17+02:00 Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 von der Gathen, Peter Rex, Markus Harris, N. R. P. Lucic, D. Knudsen, B. M. Braathen, G. O. Backer, H. De Fabian, R. Fast, H. Gil, M. Kyrö, E. Mikkelsen, I. St. Rummukainen, M. Stähelin, J. Varotsos, C. 1995 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/894/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.11481 unknown von der Gathen, P. orcid:0000-0001-7409-1556 , Rex, M. orcid:0000-0001-7847-8221 , Harris, N. R. P. , Lucic, D. , Knudsen, B. M. , Braathen, G. O. , Backer, H. D. , Fabian, R. , Fast, H. , Gil, M. , Kyrö, E. , Mikkelsen, I. S. , Rummukainen, M. , Stähelin, J. and Varotsos, C. (1995) Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 , Nature, 375 , pp. 131-134 . hdl:10013/epic.11481 EPIC3Nature, 375, pp. 131-134 Article isiRev 1995 ftawi 2023-08-22T19:42:14Z Long-term depletion of ozone has been observed since the early 1980s in the Antarctic polar vortex, and morerecently at midlatitudes in both hemispheres, with most of the ozone loss occurring in the lower stratosphere.Insufficient measurements of ozone exist, however, to determine decadal trends in ozone concentration in the Arcticwinter. Several studies of ozone concentrations in the Arctic vortex have inferred that chemical ozone loss hasoccurred; but because natural variations in ozone concentration at any given location can be large, deducinglong-term trends from time series is fraught with difficulties. The approaches used previously have often been indirect,typically relying on relationships between ozone and long-lived tracers. Most recently Manney et al. used such anapproach, based on satellite measurements, to conclude that the observed ozone decrease of about 20% in the lowerstratosphere in February and March 1993 was caused by chemical, rather than dynamical, processes. Here we report theresults of a new approach to calculate chemical ozone destruction rates that allows us to compare ozone concentrationsin specific air parcels at different times, thus avoiding the need to make assumptions about ozone/tracer ratios. For theArctic vortex of the 1991-92 winter we find that, at 20 km altitude, chemical ozone loss occurred only between earlyJanuary and mid February and that the loss is proportional to the exposure to sunlight. The timing and magnitude arebroadly consistent with existing understanding of photochemical ozone-depletion processes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Arctic Antarctic The Antarctic |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Long-term depletion of ozone has been observed since the early 1980s in the Antarctic polar vortex, and morerecently at midlatitudes in both hemispheres, with most of the ozone loss occurring in the lower stratosphere.Insufficient measurements of ozone exist, however, to determine decadal trends in ozone concentration in the Arcticwinter. Several studies of ozone concentrations in the Arctic vortex have inferred that chemical ozone loss hasoccurred; but because natural variations in ozone concentration at any given location can be large, deducinglong-term trends from time series is fraught with difficulties. The approaches used previously have often been indirect,typically relying on relationships between ozone and long-lived tracers. Most recently Manney et al. used such anapproach, based on satellite measurements, to conclude that the observed ozone decrease of about 20% in the lowerstratosphere in February and March 1993 was caused by chemical, rather than dynamical, processes. Here we report theresults of a new approach to calculate chemical ozone destruction rates that allows us to compare ozone concentrationsin specific air parcels at different times, thus avoiding the need to make assumptions about ozone/tracer ratios. For theArctic vortex of the 1991-92 winter we find that, at 20 km altitude, chemical ozone loss occurred only between earlyJanuary and mid February and that the loss is proportional to the exposure to sunlight. The timing and magnitude arebroadly consistent with existing understanding of photochemical ozone-depletion processes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
von der Gathen, Peter Rex, Markus Harris, N. R. P. Lucic, D. Knudsen, B. M. Braathen, G. O. Backer, H. De Fabian, R. Fast, H. Gil, M. Kyrö, E. Mikkelsen, I. St. Rummukainen, M. Stähelin, J. Varotsos, C. |
spellingShingle |
von der Gathen, Peter Rex, Markus Harris, N. R. P. Lucic, D. Knudsen, B. M. Braathen, G. O. Backer, H. De Fabian, R. Fast, H. Gil, M. Kyrö, E. Mikkelsen, I. St. Rummukainen, M. Stähelin, J. Varotsos, C. Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 |
author_facet |
von der Gathen, Peter Rex, Markus Harris, N. R. P. Lucic, D. Knudsen, B. M. Braathen, G. O. Backer, H. De Fabian, R. Fast, H. Gil, M. Kyrö, E. Mikkelsen, I. St. Rummukainen, M. Stähelin, J. Varotsos, C. |
author_sort |
von der Gathen, Peter |
title |
Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 |
title_short |
Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 |
title_full |
Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 |
title_fullStr |
Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 |
title_sort |
observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the arctic in winter 1991-92 |
publishDate |
1995 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/894/ https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.11481 |
geographic |
Arctic Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic |
op_source |
EPIC3Nature, 375, pp. 131-134 |
op_relation |
von der Gathen, P. orcid:0000-0001-7409-1556 , Rex, M. orcid:0000-0001-7847-8221 , Harris, N. R. P. , Lucic, D. , Knudsen, B. M. , Braathen, G. O. , Backer, H. D. , Fabian, R. , Fast, H. , Gil, M. , Kyrö, E. , Mikkelsen, I. S. , Rummukainen, M. , Stähelin, J. and Varotsos, C. (1995) Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92 , Nature, 375 , pp. 131-134 . hdl:10013/epic.11481 |
_version_ |
1776204482328133632 |