Ozone depletion in the Arctic and Antarctic stratosphere induced by wildfire smoke ...

• Main Authors: Ansmann, Albert, Ohneiser, Kevin, Chudnovsky, Alexandra, Knopf, Daniel A., Eloranta, Edwin W., Villanueva, Diego, Seifert, Patric, Radenz, Martin, Barja, Boris, Zamorano, Félix, Jimenez, Cristofer, Engelmann, Ronny, Baars, Holger, Griesche, Hannes, Hofer, Julian, Althausen, Dietrich, Wandinger, Ulla
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU 2022
• Subjects: aerosol; atmospheric pollution; concentration composition; marine atmosphere; ozone depletion; partial pressure; polar region; polar stratospheric cloud; pollution monitoring; satellite data; smoke; stratosphere; sulfate; wildfire; Antarctica; Arctic; 550; Antarctic; Neumayer; North Pole; Ny-Ålesund; South Pole; Antarc*; Ny Ålesund; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.34657/10641; https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/11608

A record-breaking stratospheric ozone loss was observed over the Arctic and Antarctica in 2020. Strong ozone depletion occurred over Antarctica in 2021 as well. The ozone holes developed in smoke-polluted air. In this article, the impact of Siberian and Australian wildfire smoke (dominated by organic aerosol) on the extraordinarily strong ozone reduction is discussed. The study is based on aerosol lidar observations in the North Pole region (October 2019-May 2020) and over Punta Arenas in southern Chile at 53.2°S (January 2020-November 2021) as well as on respective NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) ozone profile observations in the Arctic (Ny-Ålesund) and Antarctica (Neumayer and South Pole stations) in 2020 and 2021. We present a conceptual approach on how the smoke may have influenced the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which are of key importance in the ozone-depleting processes. The main results are as follows: (a) the direct impact of wildfire smoke ...