Changes in stratospheric ozone concentrations shape air temperature distributions on the Antarctic Peninsula

• Published in: Theoretical and Applied Climatology
• Main Authors: Saurral, Ramiro I., Raggio, Gabriela A.
• Other Authors: Barcelona Supercomputing Center
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2023
• Subjects: Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria agroalimentària::Ciències de la terra i de la vida::Climatologia i meteorologia; Atmospheric circulation; Greenhouse gases > Environmental aspects; Stratospheric ozone; Antarctic Peninsula; Amundsen Sea Low; Cryosphere; Temperature extremes; Simulació per ordinador; Amundsen Sea; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2117/393060; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04598-8

The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is a climate change hotspot, in which any alterations to the atmospheric circulation can lead to significant impacts on the cryosphere. Even though substantial evidence has been found on the effects of human-related greenhouse gas emissions on the climate of the AP, less studies have analyzed the effect of variations in stratospheric ozone concentrations on the regional climate, and that is the focus of this paper. Results show significant links between the concentration of stratospheric ozone and the regional circulation, as well as with variations on the frequency and intensity of cold air snaps east of the AP. Significant relationships are found between changes in ozone concentrations and minimum/maximum temperature distributions over AP weather stations over most of the seasons. A strong link is also found with the location, depth and intensity of the Amundsen Sea Low west of the AP, which is in most cases responsible for the temperature anomalies identified in this study. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewer and the Editor whose comments and suggestions helped to improve the paper. The research leading to this article was partly funded by Grant PICT2020-SerieA-03172 from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina) to the University of Buenos Aires. The authors would like to acknowledge François Massonnet and Kyle Clem for fruitful discussions on an earlier version of this manuscript, as well as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for constructing and making available the ERA-5489 reanalysis dataset. Peer Reviewed Postprint (author's final draft)