Physics and chemistry of stratospheric ozone and interactions with climate change

• Main Author: Kuttippurath, Jayanarayanan
• Other Authors: STRATO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI, François Ravetta([e-mail])
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: Ozone; Changement climatique; Stratopshère; Régions polaires; Modélisation; Analyse de régression; Climate change; Stratosphere; Polar regions; Chemistry and Climate modeling; Regression analysis; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Antarctic; Arctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00920539; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00920539/document; https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00920539/file/JK_HDR_21Mar2013_-_copie.pdf

Ozone is one of the key constituents in the atmosphere, although present only in trace amounts. The stratospheric ozone plays a pivotal role in regulating the incidence of harmful ultra-violet radiation (400- 100 nm) and radiative balance of the earth, and thus influences the global climate. This thesis deals with the spatial, temporal and vertical evolution of polar stratospheric ozone and its interactions with climate change over 1979-2012, with an emphasis on the winters of 2000s. Analysis of the dynamical situation in the Arctic winters reveals that there is an increase in the occurrence of major warmings (MWs) in recent years (1998/1999-2009/2010), as there were 13MWs in the 12 winters (⇠11 MWs/decade), although the long-term average (1957/1958-2009/2010) of the frequency stays around its historical value (⇠7MWs/decade). A study of the chemical ozone loss in the past 17 winters (1993/1994-2009/2010) suggests that the loss is inversely proportional to the intensity and timing of MWs in each winter, where early (December-January) MWs lead to limited loss. This high frequency of the MWs has significant implications for stratospheric ozone trends and hence, the Arctic and global climate. A detailed assessment of the Arctic winters 1996/1997 and 2002/2003-2010/2011 shows that the winter 2002/2003 had a MW and three minor warmings. However, the winter still had a cumulative ozone loss of ⇠1.5ppmv at 450-500K or 65DU over 400-550K by the end of March, apart from the record loss of ⇠0.7ppmv in December-January, as no other winter had such a large loss during the early winter over 1988/1989-2010/2011. In contrast, the largest ozone loss ever observed was in 2010/2011, about 2.5 ppmv at 400-550K or 140DU over 350-550K. Our study shows that the loss in 2010/2011 was close to that found in some Antarctic winters, for the first time in the observed history. The prolonged strong chlorine activation and denitrification during the winter triggered this record loss. The loss in other winters was between 0.7 and 1.6 ppmv at ...