scholarly journals The Transient Response of the Southern Ocean to Stratospheric Ozone Depletion

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (20) ◽  
pp. 7383-7396 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. M. Seviour ◽  
Anand Gnanadesikan ◽  
Darryn W. Waugh
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Transient Response ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Natural Variability ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Cooling Period

Abstract Recent studies have suggested that the response of the Southern Ocean to stratospheric ozone depletion is nonmonotonic in time; consisting of an initial cooling followed by a long-term warming. This result may be significant for the attribution of observed Southern Ocean temperature and sea ice trends, but the time scale and magnitude of the response is poorly constrained, with a wide spread among climate models. Furthermore, a long-lived initial cooling period has only been observed in a model with idealized geometry and lacking an explicit representation of ozone. Here the authors calculate the transient response of the Southern Ocean to a step-change in ozone in a comprehensive coupled climate model, GFDL-ESM2Mc. The Southern Ocean responds to ozone depletion with an initial cooling, lasting 25 yr, followed by a warming. The authors extend previous studies to investigate the dependence of the response on the ozone forcing as well as the regional pattern of this response. The response of the Southern Ocean relative to natural variability is shown to be largely independent of the initial state. However, the magnitude of this response is much less than that of natural variability found in the model, which limits its influence and detectability.

Large Increase in Incident Shortwave Radiation due to the Ozone Hole Offset by High Climatological Albedo over Antarctica

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (13) ◽  
pp. 4883-4890 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Chiodo ◽  
L. M. Polvani ◽  
M. Previdi
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Surface Energy Budget ◽  
Ozone Hole ◽  
Radiative Heating ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion ◽  
Continental Scale

Despite increasing scientific scrutiny in recent years, the direct impact of the ozone hole on surface temperatures over Antarctica remains uncertain. Here, this question is explored by using the Community Earth System Model–Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (CESM-WACCM), contrasting two ensembles of runs with and without stratospheric ozone depletion. It is found that, during austral spring, the ozone hole leads to a surprisingly large increase in surface downwelling shortwave (SW) radiation over Antarctica of 3.8 W m−2 in clear sky and 1.8 W m−2 in all sky. However, despite this large increase in incident SW radiation, no ozone-induced surface warming is seen in the model. It is shown that the lack of a surface temperature response is due to reflection of most of the increased downward SW, resulting in an insignificant change to the net SW radiative heating. To first order, this reflection is simply due to the high climatological surface albedo of the Antarctic snow (97% in visible SW), resulting in a net zero ozone-induced surface SW forcing. In addition, it is shown that stratospheric ozone depletion has a negligible effect on longwave (LW) radiation and other components of the surface energy budget. These results suggest a minimal role for ozone depletion in forcing Antarctic surface temperature trends on a continental scale.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of the southern hemisphere tropospheric jet response to Antarctic ozone depletion: prescribed versus interactive chemistry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Haase ◽  
Jaika Fricke ◽  
Tim Kruschke ◽  
Sebastian Wahl ◽  
Katja Matthes
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Jet Stream ◽  
Heating Rates ◽  
Sea Ice Extent ◽  
Poleward Shift

Abstract. Southern hemisphere lower stratospheric ozone depletion has been shown to lead to a poleward shift of the tropospheric jet stream during austral summer, influencing surface atmosphere and ocean conditions, such as surface temperatures and sea ice extent. The characteristics of stratospheric and tropospheric responses to ozone depletion, however, differ largely among climate models depending on the representation of ozone in the models. The most accurate way to represent ozone in a model is to calculate it interactively. However, due to computational costs, in particular for long-term coupled ocean-atmosphere model integrations, the more common way is to prescribe ozone from observations or calculated model fields. Here, we investigate the difference between an interactive and a specified chemistry version of the same atmospheric model in a fully-coupled setup using a 9-member chemistry-climate model ensemble. In the specified chemistry version of the model the ozone fields are prescribed using the output from the interactive chemistry model version. In contrast to earlier studies, we use daily-resolved ozone fields in the specified chemistry simulations to achieve a better comparability between the ozone forcing with and without interactive chemistry. We find that although the short-wave heating rate trend in response to ozone depletion is the same in the different chemistry settings, the interactive chemistry ensemble shows a stronger trend in polar cap stratospheric temperatures (by about 0.7 K per decade) and circumpolar stratospheric zonal mean zonal winds (by about 1.6 m/s per decade) as compared to the specified chemistry ensemble. This difference between interactive and specified chemistry in the stratospheric response to ozone depletion also affects the tropospheric response, namely the poleward shift of the tropospheric jet stream. We attribute part of these differences to the missing representation of feedbacks between chemistry and dynamics in the specified chemistry ensemble, which affect the dynamical heating rates, and part of it to the lack of spatial asymmetries in the prescribed ozone fields. This effect is investigated using a sensitivity ensemble that was forced by a three-dimensional instead of a two–dimensional ozone field. This study emphasizes the value of interactive chemistry for the representation of the southern hemisphere tropospheric jet response to ozone depletion and infers that for periods with strong ozone variability (trends) the details of the ozone forcing can be crucial for representing southern hemispheric climate variability.

scholarly journals Interactive ozone and methane chemistry in GISS-E2 historical and future climate simulations

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2653-2689 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
O. Pechony ◽  
A. Voulgarakis ◽  
G. Faluvegi ◽  
L. Nazarenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Tropospheric Temperature ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion ◽  
Model Calculations

Abstract. The new generation GISS climate model includes fully interactive chemistry related to ozone in historical and future simulations, and interactive methane in future simulations. Evaluation of ozone, its tropospheric precursors, and methane shows that the model captures much of the large-scale spatial structure seen in recent observations. While the model is much improved compared with the previous chemistry-climate model, especially for ozone seasonality in the stratosphere, there is still slightly too rapid stratospheric circulation, too little stratosphere-to-troposphere ozone flux in the Southern Hemisphere and an Antarctic ozone hole that is too large and persists too long. Quantitative metrics of spatial and temporal correlations with satellite datasets as well as spatial autocorrelation to examine transport and mixing are presented to document improvements in model skill and provide a benchmark for future evaluations. The difference in radiative forcing (RF) calculated using modeled tropospheric ozone versus tropospheric ozone observed by TES is only 0.016 W m−2. Historical 20th Century simulations show a steady increase in whole atmosphere ozone RF through 1970 after which there is a decrease through 2000 due to stratospheric ozone depletion. Ozone forcing increases throughout the 21st century under RCP8.5 owing to a projected recovery of stratospheric ozone depletion and increases in methane, but decreases under RCP4.5 and 2.6 due to reductions in emissions of other ozone precursors. RF from methane is 0.05 to 0.18 W m−2 higher in our model calculations than in the RCP RF estimates. The surface temperature response to ozone through 1970 follows the increase in forcing due to tropospheric ozone. After that time, surface temperatures decrease as ozone RF declines due to stratospheric depletion. The stratospheric ozone depletion also induces substantial changes in surface winds and the Southern Ocean circulation, which may play a role in a slightly stronger response per unit forcing during later decades. Tropical precipitation shifts south during boreal summer from 1850 to 1970, but then shifts northward from 1970 to 2000, following upper tropospheric temperature gradients more strongly than those at the surface.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of the Amundsen Sea Low to Stratospheric Ozone Depletion

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (24) ◽  
pp. 9383-9400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan L. Fogt ◽  
Elizabeth A. Zbacnik
Keyword(s):  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Southern Annular Mode ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion ◽  
Austral Spring ◽  
Regional Warming ◽  
Amundsen Sea

Abstract Dramatic sea ice loss in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas and regional warming in West Antarctica and the Antarctica Peninsula have been observed over the last few decades. Both of these changes are strongly influenced by the presence of the Amundsen Sea low (ASL), a climatological region of low pressure in the Amundsen Sea. Studies have demonstrated a deepening of the ASL, particularly in austral spring and to a lesser extent autumn, the former related to decreases in the underlying cyclone central pressures and the latter previously suggested to be due to stratospheric ozone depletion. This study further investigates the sensitivity of the ASL to stratospheric ozone depletion using geopotential height from a suite of chemistry–climate models (CCMs) as well as historical simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Overall, both model types capture the mean characteristics of the ASL, although they have notable positive height biases at 850 hPa and a subdued seasonal cycle in its longitudinal position. Comparing across model simulations, it is observed that there is a pronounced influence of stratospheric ozone depletion in the vicinity of the ASL in the stratosphere through the lower troposphere during austral summer, consistent with the positive phase of the southern annular mode. In the autumn, the authors note a weaker, secondary influence of stratospheric ozone depletion on the ASL only in the CMIP5 simulations.

scholarly journals Interactive ozone and methane chemistry in GISS-E2 historical and future climate simulations

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 23513-23602 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Shindell ◽  
O. Pechony ◽  
A. Voulgarakis ◽  
G. Faluvegi ◽  
L. Nazarenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Tropospheric Temperature ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion ◽  
Model Calculations

Abstract. The new generation GISS climate model includes fully interactive chemistry related to ozone in historical and future simulations, and interactive methane in future simulations. Evaluation of ozone, its tropospheric precursors, and methane shows that the model captures much of the large-scale spatial structure seen in recent observations. While the model is much improved compared with the previous chemistry-climate model, especially for ozone seasonality in the stratosphere, there is still slightly too rapid stratospheric circulation too little stratosphere-to-troposphere ozone flux in the Southern Hemisphere and an Antarctic ozone hole that is too large and persists too long quantitative metrics of spatial and temporal correlations with satellite datasets as well as spatial autocorrelation to examine transport and mixing are presented to document improvements in model skill and provide a benchmark for future evaluations. The difference in radiative forcing (RF) calculated using modeled tropospheric ozone versus tropospheric ozone observed by TES is only 0.016 W m−2. Historical 20th Century simulations show a steady increase in whole atmosphere ozone RF through 1970 after which there is a decrease through 2000 due to stratospheric ozone depletion. Ozone forcing increases in the future under RCP8.5 owing to a projected recovery of stratospheric ozone depletion and increases in methane, but decreases under other RCPs due to reductions in emissions of other ozone precursors. RF from methane is 0.05 to 0.18 W m−2 higher in our model calculations than in the RCP RF estimates. The surface temperature response to ozone through 1970 follows the increase in forcing due to tropospheric ozone. After that time, surface temperatures decrease as ozone RF declines due to stratospheric depletion. The stratospheric ozone depletion also induces substantial changes in surface winds and the Southern Ocean circulation, which may play a role in a slightly stronger response per unit forcing during later decades. Tropical precipitation shifts south during boreal summer from 1850 to 1970, but then shifts northward from 1970 to 2000, following upper tropospheric temperature gradients more strongly than those at the surface.

Impacts of Stratospheric Ozone Extremes on Arctic High Cloud

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Smith ◽  
Sarah Maleska ◽  
John Virgin
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion ◽  
High Cloud ◽  
The Impact

<p>Stratospheric ozone depletion in the Antarctic is well known to cause changes in Southern Hemisphere tropospheric climate; however, because of its smaller magnitude in the Arctic, the effects of stratospheric ozone depletion on Northern Hemisphere tropospheric climate are not as obvious or well understood. Recent research using both global climate models and observational data has determined that the impact of ozone depletion on ozone extremes can affect interannual variability in tropospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere in spring. To further this work, we use a coupled chemistry–climate model to examine the difference in high cloud between years with anomalously low and high Arctic stratospheric ozone concentrations. We find that low ozone extremes during the late twentieth century, when ozone-depleting substances (ODS) emissions are higher, are related to a decrease in upper tropospheric stability and an increase in high cloud fraction, which may contribute to enhanced Arctic surface warming in spring through a positive longwave cloud radiative effect. A better understanding of how Arctic climate is affected by ODS emissions, ozone depletion, and ozone extremes will lead to improved predictions of Arctic climate and its associated feedbacks with atmospheric fields as ozone levels recover.</p>

scholarly journals Sensitivity of the Southern Hemisphere circumpolar jet response to Antarctic ozone depletion: prescribed versus interactive chemistry

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 14043-14061
Author(s):  
Sabine Haase ◽  
Jaika Fricke ◽  
Tim Kruschke ◽  
Sebastian Wahl ◽  
Katja Matthes
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Jet Stream ◽  
Heating Rates ◽  
Sea Ice Extent ◽  
Poleward Shift

Abstract. Southern Hemisphere lower-stratospheric ozone depletion has been shown to lead to a poleward shift of the tropospheric jet stream during austral summer, influencing surface atmosphere and ocean conditions, such as surface temperatures and sea ice extent. The characteristics of stratospheric and tropospheric responses to ozone depletion, however, differ among climate models depending on the representation of ozone in the models. The most appropriate way to represent ozone in a model is to calculate it interactively. However, due to computational costs, in particular for long-term coupled ocean–atmosphere model integrations, the more common way is to prescribe ozone from observations or calculated model fields. Here, we investigate the difference between an interactive and a specified chemistry version of the same atmospheric model in a fully coupled setup using a nine-member chemistry–climate model ensemble. In the specified chemistry version of the model the ozone fields are prescribed using the output from the interactive chemistry model version. We use daily resolved ozone fields in the specified chemistry simulations to achieve a very good comparability between the ozone forcing with and without interactive chemistry. We find that although the shortwave heating rate trend in response to ozone depletion is the same in the different chemistry settings, the interactive chemistry ensemble shows a stronger trend in polar cap stratospheric temperatures (by about 0.7 K decade−1) and circumpolar stratospheric zonal mean zonal winds (by about 1.6 m s−1 decade−1 as compared to the specified chemistry ensemble. This difference between interactive and specified chemistry in the stratospheric response to ozone depletion also affects the tropospheric response. However, an impact on the poleward shift of the tropospheric jet stream is not detected. We attribute part of the differences found in the experiments to the missing representation of feedbacks between chemistry and dynamics in the specified chemistry ensemble, which affect the dynamical heating rates, and part of it to the lack of spatial asymmetries in the prescribed ozone fields. This effect is investigated using a sensitivity ensemble that was forced by a three-dimensional instead of a two-dimensional ozone field. This study emphasizes the value of interactive chemistry for the representation of the Southern Hemisphere stratospheric-jet response to ozone depletion and infers that for periods with strong ozone variability (trends) the details of the ozone forcing could also have an influence on the representation of southern-hemispheric climate variability.

scholarly journals Analysis of recent lower stratospheric ozone trends in chemistry climate models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Dietmüller ◽  
Hella Garny ◽  
Roland Eichinger ◽  
William T. Ball
Keyword(s):  
Observational Data ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Natural Variability ◽  
Systematic Change ◽  
Trend Pattern ◽  
The Future ◽  
Ozone Trends ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. Recent observations show a significant decrease of lower stratospheric (LS) ozone concentrations in tropical and mid-latitude regions since 1998. By analyzing 31 chemistry climate model (CCM) simulations performed for the Chemistry Climate Model Initiative (CCMI), we find a large spread in the 1998–2018 trend patterns between different CCMs and between different realizations performed with the same CCM. The latter, in particular, indicates that natural variability strongly influences LS ozone trends. However none of the model simulations reproduces the observed ozone trend structure of coherent negative trends in the LS. In contrast to the observations, most models show a dipole trend pattern in the LS with negative trends in the tropics and positive trends in the northern mid-latitudes or vice versa. To investigate the influence of natural variability on the LS ozone trends we analyze the observational trends and the models' trend probability distributions for slightly varied post-ODS (ozone depleting substances) periods. Generally, modeled and observed LS trends remain robust for different post-ODS periods, however observational data show a systematic change towards weaker mid-latitude trends forced by natural variability for certain periods. Moreover we can show that in the tropics the observed trends agree quite well with the models' trend distribution, whereas in the mid-latitudes the observational trend is a rather extreme value of the models' distribution. We further investigate the LS ozone trends for extended periods reaching into the future and find that all models develop a dipole trend pattern in the future, i.e. in almost all models the trends converge to constant values for the entire period 1998–2060. An investigation of interannual ozone variability also reveals a clear dipole pattern in ozone variability in all CCMs and in observational data, however it is more pronounced in the models. Thus, although the LS ozone variability pattern is similar, the probability of overall negative LS ozone trends simultaneously in the tropics and mid-latitudes is higher in observations. To access the dynamical influence on LS ozone trends, the models' tropical upwelling trends are correlated against their LS ozone trends. For the period 1998–2018 tropical ozone trends are negatively correlated (−0.83) and mid-latitude trends are positively correlated (+0.49). However, the correlation in the mid-latitudes is rather weak and not robust for slightly varied time periods, which indicates that other processes like two-way mixing play an important role here, too.

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