Siege in the Southern Stratosphere: Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai Water Vapor Excluded From the 2022 Antarctic Polar Vortex

Abstract We use Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) trace gas measurements to investigate whether water vapor (H2O) injected into the stratosphere by the Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) eruption affected the 2022 Antarctic stratospheric vortex. Other MLS‐measured long‐lived species are used to d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Gloria L. Manney, Michelle L. Santee, Alyn Lambert, Luis F. Millán, Ken Minschwaner, Frank Werner, Zachary D. Lawrence, William G. Read, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Tao Wang
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023
Subjects:
Hunga Tonga eruption
stratospheric polar vortex
transport
water vapor
polar chemical processing
satellite data
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
Antarc*
Antarctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103855
https://doaj.org/article/1795500401ec4ba499bfbca0f3c54963
Description
Summary:Abstract We use Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) trace gas measurements to investigate whether water vapor (H2O) injected into the stratosphere by the Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) eruption affected the 2022 Antarctic stratospheric vortex. Other MLS‐measured long‐lived species are used to distinguish high HTHH H2O from that descending in the vortex from the upper‐stratospheric H2O peak. HTHH H2O reached high southern latitudes in June–July but was effectively excluded from the vortex by the strong transport barrier at its edge. MLS H2O, nitric acid, chlorine species, and ozone within the 2022 Antarctic polar vortex were near average; the vortex was large, strong, and long‐lived, but not exceptionally so. There is thus no clear evidence of HTHH influence on the 2022 Antarctic vortex or its composition. Substantial impacts on the stratospheric polar vortices are expected in succeeding years since the H2O injected by HTHH has spread globally.

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