Match observations in the Arctic winter 1996/97: High stratospheric ozone loss rates correlate with low temperatures deep inside the polar vortex

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Schulz, A., Rex, M., Steger, J., Harris, N. R. P., Braathen, G., Reimer, E., Alfier, R., Beck, A., Alpers, M., Cisneros, J., Claude, H., de Backer, H., Dier, H., Dorokhov, V., Fast, Hans, Godin, Sophie, Hansen, G., Kanzawa, H., Kois, Bogumil, Kondo, Y., Kosmidis, E., Kyrö, E., Litynska, Z., Molyneux, M. J., Murphy, G., Nakane, H., Parrondo, C., Ravegnani, F., Varotsos, C., Vialle, C., Viatte, P., Yushkov, V., Zerefos, C., von Der Gathen, Peter
• Other Authors: Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung = Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research = Institut Alfred-Wegener pour la recherche polaire et marine (AWI), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association, European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit Cambridge (EORCU), University of Cambridge UK (CAM), Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), Institut für Meteorologie Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik (IAP), Universität Rostock-Leibniz Association, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia Madrid (INM), Meteorologisches Observatorium Hohenpeißenberg (MOHp), Deutscher Wetterdienst Offenbach (DWD), Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique Bruxelles - Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (IRM), Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory - Richard Assmann Observatory (MOL-RAO), Central Aerological Observatory (CAO), Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Service d'aéronomie (SA), 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), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Institute of Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute (IMGW - PIB), Nagoya University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), United Kingdom Met Office Exeter, Irish Meteorological Service (MET ÉIREANN), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Bologna (CNR), Academy of Athens, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics Thessaloniki
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: CCSD 2000
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; Arctic
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-01633514; https://insu.hal.science/insu-01633514v1/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-01633514v1/file/Schulz_et_al-2000-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/1999GL010811

International audience With the Match technique, which is based on the coordinated release of ozonesondes, chemical ozone loss rates in the Arctic stratospheric vortex in early 1997 have been quantified in a vertical region between 400 K and 550 K. Ozone destruction was observed from mid February to mid March in most of these levels, with maximum loss rates between 25 and 45 ppbv/day. The vortex averaged loss rates and the accumulated vertically integrated ozone loss have been smaller than in the previous two winters, indicating that the record low ozone columns observed in spring 1997 were partly caused by dynamical effects. The observed ozone loss is inhomogeneous through the vortex with the highest loss rates located in the vortex centre, coinciding with the lowest temperatures. Here the loss rates per sunlit hour reached 6 ppbv/h, while the corresponding vortex averaged rates did not exceed 3.9 ppbv/h.