A high time resolution study of boundary layer ozone chemistry and dynamics over the Arctic Ocean near Alert, Nunavut

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Morin, Samuel, Hönninger, G. H., Staebler, R. M., Bottenheim, J. W.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Air Quality Research Branch, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Institute of Environmental Physics Heidelberg (IUP), Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg, Geophysical Institute Fairbanks, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2005
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Nunavut
• Online Access: https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00374878; https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00374878/document; https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00374878/file/2004GL022098.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL022098

International audience During the field campaign “Out On The Ice” (OOTI) in the spring of 2004 at Alert, Nunavut (N82°30′, W62°19′) an event occurred where surface ozone (O3) and reactive bromine species in the boundary layer showed dramatic changes on a timescale of minutes and a spatial scale of a few kilometers. In apparent direct response to changes in surface wind speed and direction, surface O3 mole fractions of >30 nmol.mol−1 replaced stable, O3 depleted boundary layer conditions for about 5 hours. High time resolved (seconds to minutes) chemical and meteorological observations on the ice and on land, as well as synoptic weather maps and routine radiosonde data are used to constrain the unfolding of the event. It is hypothesized that the bromine oxide (BrO) distribution in the troposphere over the frozen ocean features a maximum in a narrow transition layer that separates the boundary layer from free tropospheric air above.