scholarly journals An unusual stratospheric ozone decrease in the Southern Hemisphere subtropics linked to isentropic air-mass transport as observed over Irene (25.5° S, 28.1° E) in mid-May 2002

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 1927-1936 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Semane ◽  
H. Bencherif ◽  
B. Morel ◽  
A. Hauchecorne ◽  
R. D. Diab
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Total Ozone ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Ozone Layer ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Unusual Distribution ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
Middle Stratosphere

Abstract. A prominent ozone minimum of less than 240 Dobson Units (DU) was observed over Irene (25.5° S, 28.1° E), a subtropical site in the Southern Hemisphere, by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) during May 2002 with an extremely low ozone value of less than 219 DU recorded on 12 May, as compared to the climatological mean value of 249 DU for May between 1999 and 2005. In this study, the vertical structure of this ozone minimum is examined using ozonesonde measurements performed over Irene on 15 May 2002, when the total ozone (as given by TOMS) was about 226 DU. It is shown that this ozone minimum is of Antarctic polar origin with a low-ozone layer in the middle stratosphere above 625 K (where the climatological ozone gradient points equatorward), and is of tropical origin with a low-ozone layer in the lower stratosphere between the 400-K and 450-K isentropic levels (where the climatological ozone gradient is reversed). The upper and lower depleted parts of the ozonesonde profile for 15 May are then respectively attributed to equatorward and poleward transport of low-ozone air toward the subtropics in the Southern Hemisphere. The tropical air moving over Irene and the polar one passing over the same area associated with enhanced planetary-wave activity are successfully simulated using the high-resolution advection contour model of Ertel's potential vorticity MIMOSA. The unusual distribution of ozone over Irene during May 2002 in the middle stratosphere is connected to the anomalously pre-conditioned structure of the polar vortex at that time of the year. The winter stratospheric wave driving leading to the ozone minimum is investigated by means of the Eliassen-Palm flux computed from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA40 re-analyses.

Examination of the 2002 major warming in the southern hemisphere using ground-based and Odin/SMR assimilated data: stratospheric ozone distributions and tropic/mid-latitude exchange

2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (11) ◽  
pp. 1287-1300 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Bencherif ◽  
L El Amraoui ◽  
N Semane ◽  
S Massart ◽  
D Vidyaranya Charyulu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Height Range ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
European Centre

Following an exceptionally active winter, the 2002 Southern Hemisphere (SH) major warming occurred in late September. It was preceded by three minor warming events that occurred in late August and early September, and yielded vortex split and break-down over Antarctica. Ozone (O3 and nitrous oxide (N2O) profiles obtained during that period of time (15 August – 4 October) by the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) aboard the Odin satellite are assimilated into MOCAGE (Modélisation Isentrope du transport Mésoéchelle de l'Ozone Stratosphérique par Advection), a global three-dimensional chemistry transport model of Météo-France. The assimilated algorithm is a three-dimensional-FGAT built by the European Centre for Research and Advance Training in Scientific Computation (CERFACS) using the PALM (Projet d'Assimilation par Logiciel Multi-méthode) software. The assimilated O3 and N2O profiles and isentropic distributions are compared to ground-based measurements (LIDAR and balloon-sonde) and to maps of advected potential vorticity (APV). The latter is computed by the MIMOSA (Modélisation Isentrope du transport Mésoéchelle de l'Ozone Stratosphérique par Advection) model, a high-resolution advection transport model, using meteorological fields from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). It is found that O3 concentrations retrieved by the MOCAGE–PALM assimilation system show a reasonably good agreement in the 20–28 km height range when compared with ground-based profiles. This altitude range corresponds to the intersection between the MOCAGE levels (0–28 km) and SMR O3 retrievals (20–50 km). Moreover, comparison of N2O assimilated fields with MIMOSA APV maps indicates that the dramatic split and subsequent break-down of the polar vortex, as well as the associated mixing of mid- and low-latitude stratospheric air, are well resolved and pictured by MOCAGE–PALM. The present study demonstrates also that the tremendous dynamics and associated polar vortex deformations during the 2002-austral-winter have modified ozone and nitrous oxide distributions not only at the vicinity of the polar vortex, but over topics and subtropics as well. PACS Nos.: 92.60.H–, 92.60.Hd, 92.70.Cp, 92.70.Gt

scholarly journals An unusual stratospheric ozone decrease linked to isentropic air-mass transport as observed over Irene (25.5° S, 28.1° E) in mid-May 2002

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 12617-12639
Author(s):  
N. Semane ◽  
H. Bencherif ◽  
B. Morel ◽  
A. Hauchecorne ◽  
R. D. Diab
Keyword(s):  
Total Ozone ◽  
Planetary Wave ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Ozone Layer ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Middle Stratosphere

Abstract. A prominent ozone minimum of less than 240 Dobson Units (DU) was observed over Irene (25.5° S, 28.1° E) by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) during May 2002 with extremely low ozone value of less than 219 DU recorded on 12 May, as compared to a climatological mean of 249 DU for May between 1999 and 2005. In this study, the vertical structure of this ozone minimum is examined using ozonesonde measurements performed over Irene on 15 May 2002, when the total ozone (as given by TOMS) was about 226 DU. Indeed, it is found that the ozone minimum is of Antarctic polar origin with a low-ozone layer in the middle stratosphere above 625 K and of tropical origin with low-ozone layer between 400-K and 450-K isentropic levels in the lower stratosphere. The upper and lower depleted parts of the ozonesonde profile for 15 May, are respectively attributed to equatorward and poleward transport of low-ozone air toward the subtropics. The tropical air moving over Irene and the polar one passing over the same area associated with enhanced planetary-wave activity are simulated successfully using a high-resolution advection contour model (MIMOSA) of Potential Vorticity. Indeed, in mid-May 2002, MIMOSA maps show a polar vortex filament in the middle stratosphere above the 625-K isentropic level and they show also tropical air-masses moving southward (over Irene) in the lower stratosphere between 400-K and 450-K isentropic levels. The winter stratospheric wave driving and its associated localized isentropic mixing leading to the ozone minimum are investigated by means of two diagnostic tools: the Eliassen-Palm flux and the effective diffusivity computed from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) fields. The unusual distribution of ozone over Irene during May 2002 in the middle stratosphere is closely connected to the anomalously pre-conditioned structure of the polar vortex at that time of the year. Indeed, the perturbed vortex was typically predisposed for easy erosion by dynamical transport processes, which have been driven by strong planetary wave activity and have eventually resulted in a very large latitudinal advection of polar air masses towards the subtropics. The exceptional presence of polar vortex air over the subtropics during May 2002 can be considered as the first sign of the particular polar vortex disturbances, which after being well reinforced, contributed to the unprecedented behavior of the Antarctic spring ozone hole observed during September 2002.

scholarly journals The use of SMILES data to study ozone loss in the Arctic winter 2009/2010 and comparison with Odin/SMR data using assimilation techniques

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 12855-12869 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Sagi ◽  
D. Murtagh ◽  
J. Urban ◽  
H. Sagawa ◽  
Y. Kasai
Keyword(s):  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Mixing Ratio ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Ozone Loss ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
Assimilation Model

Abstract. The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) on board the International Space Station observed ozone in the stratosphere with high precision from October 2009 to April 2010. Although SMILES measurements only cover latitudes from 38° S to 65° N, the combination of data assimilation methods and an isentropic advection model allows us to quantify the ozone depletion in the 2009/2010 Arctic polar winter by making use of the instability of the polar vortex in the northern hemisphere. Ozone data from both SMILES and Odin/SMR (Sub-Millimetre Radiometer) for the winter were assimilated into the Dynamical Isentropic Assimilation Model for OdiN Data (DIAMOND). DIAMOND is an off-line wind-driven transport model on isentropic surfaces. Wind data from the operational analyses of the European Centre for Medium- Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) were used to drive the model. In this study, particular attention is paid to the cross isentropic transport of the tracer in order to accurately assess the ozone loss. The assimilated SMILES ozone fields agree well with the limitation of noise induced variability within the SMR fields despite the limited latitude coverage of the SMILES observations. Ozone depletion has been derived by comparing the ozone field acquired by sequential assimilation with a passively transported ozone field initialized on 1 December 2009. Significant ozone loss was found in different periods and altitudes from using both SMILES and SMR data: The initial depletion occurred at the end of January below 550 K with an accumulated loss of 0.6–1.0 ppmv (approximately 20%) by 1 April. The ensuing loss started from the end of February between 575 K and 650 K. Our estimation shows that 0.8–1.3 ppmv (20–25 %) of O3 has been removed at the 600 K isentropic level by 1 April in volume mixing ratio (VMR).

scholarly journals Technical note: LIMS observations of lower stratospheric ozone in the southern polar springtime of 1978

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 3663-3668
Author(s):  
Ellis Remsberg ◽  
V. Lynn Harvey ◽  
Arlin Krueger ◽  
Larry Gordley ◽  
John C. Gille ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Acid ◽  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Polar Region ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Technical Note ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone Layer ◽  
Antarctic Ozone

Abstract. The Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from 25 October 1978 through 28 May 1979. This note focuses on its Version 6 (V6) data and indications of ozone loss in the lower stratosphere of the Southern Hemisphere subpolar region during the last week of October 1978. We provide profiles and maps that show V6 ozone values of only 2 to 3 ppmv at 46 hPa within the edge of the polar vortex near 60∘ S from late October through mid-November 1978. There are also low values of V6 nitric acid (∼3 to 6 ppbv) and nitrogen dioxide (< 1 ppbv) at the same locations, indicating that conditions were suitable for a chemical loss of Antarctic ozone some weeks earlier. These “first light” LIMS observations provide the earliest space-based view of conditions within the lower stratospheric ozone layer of the southern polar region in springtime.

scholarly journals LIMS observations of lower stratospheric ozone in the southern polar springtime of 1978

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellis Remsberg ◽  
V. Lynn Harvey ◽  
Arlin Krueger ◽  
Larry Gordley ◽  
John C. Gille ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Acid ◽  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Polar Vortex

Abstract. The Nimbus 7 limb infrared monitor of the stratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from October 25, 1978, through May 28, 1979. This paper focuses on its Version (V6) data for the lower stratosphere of the southern hemisphere, subpolar region during the last week of October 1978. We provide profiles and maps that show V6 ozone values of only 2 to 3 ppmv within the edge of the polar vortex at 46 hPa near 60° S from late October through mid-November 1978. There are also low values of V6 nitric acid (∼ 3 to 6 ppbv) and nitrogen dioxide (

scholarly journals Record low ozone values over the Arctic in boreal spring 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 617-633
Author(s):  
Martin Dameris ◽  
Diego G. Loyola ◽  
Matthias Nützel ◽  
Melanie Coldewey-Egbers ◽  
Christophe Lerot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Total Ozone ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Ozone Hole ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Total Ozone Column ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Ozone Column

Abstract. Ozone data derived from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) sensor on board the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite show exceptionally low total ozone columns in the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere (Arctic) in spring 2020. Minimum total ozone column values around or below 220 Dobson units (DU) were seen over the Arctic for 5 weeks in March and early April 2020. Usually the persistence of such low total ozone column values in spring is only observed in the polar Southern Hemisphere (Antarctic) and not over the Arctic. These record low total ozone columns were caused by a particularly strong polar vortex in the stratosphere with a persistent cold stratosphere at higher latitudes, a prerequisite for ozone depletion through heterogeneous chemistry. Based on the ERA5, which is the fifth generation of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalysis, the Northern Hemisphere winter 2019/2020 (from December to March) showed minimum polar cap temperatures consistently below 195 K around 20 km altitude, which enabled enhanced formation of polar stratospheric clouds. The special situation in spring 2020 is compared and discussed in context with two other Northern Hemisphere spring seasons, namely those in 1997 and 2011, which also displayed relatively low total ozone column values. However, during these years, total ozone columns below 220 DU over several consecutive days were not observed in spring. The similarities and differences of the atmospheric conditions of these three events and possible explanations for the observed features are presented and discussed. It becomes apparent that the monthly mean of the minimum total ozone column value for March 2020 (221 DU) was clearly below the respective values found in March 1997 (267 DU) and 2011 (252 DU), which highlights the special evolution of the polar stratospheric ozone layer in the Northern Hemisphere in spring 2020. A comparison with a typical ozone hole over the Antarctic (e.g., in 2016) indicates that although the Arctic spring 2020 situation is remarkable, with total ozone column values around or below 220 DU observed over a considerable area (up to 0.9 million km2), the Antarctic ozone hole shows total ozone columns typically below 150 DU over a much larger area (of the order of 20 million km2). Furthermore, total ozone columns below 220 DU are typically observed over the Antarctic for about 4 months.

scholarly journals A stratospheric prognostic ozone for seamless Earth System Models: performance, impacts and future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz M. Monge-Sanz ◽  
Alessio Bozzo ◽  
Nicholas Byrne ◽  
Martyn P. Chipperfield ◽  
Michail Diamantakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Atlantic Sector ◽  
The North ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
Antarctic Polar Vortex ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. We have implemented a new stratospheric ozone model in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) system, and tested its performance for different timescales, to assess the impact of stratospheric ozone on meteorological fields. We have used the new ozone model to provide prognostic ozone in medium-range and long-range experiments, showing the feasibility of this ozone scheme for a seamless NWP modelling approach. We find that the stratospheric ozone distribution provided by the new scheme in ECMWF forecast experiments is in very good agreement with observations, even for unusual meteorological conditions such as Arctic stratospheric sudden warmings (SSWs) and Antarctic polar vortex events like the vortex split of year 2002. To assess the impact it has on meteorological variables, we have performed experiments in which the prognostic ozone is interactive with radiation. The new scheme provides a realistic ozone field able to improve the description of the stratosphere in the ECMWF system, we find clear reductions of biases in the stratospheric forecast temperature. The seasonality of the Southern Hemisphere polar vortex is also significantly improved when using the new ozone model. In medium-range simulations we also find improvements in high latitude tropospheric winds during the SSW event considered in this study. In long-range simulations the use of the new ozone model leads to an increase in the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index correlation, and an increase in the signal to noise ratio over the North Atlantic sector. In our study we show that by improving the description of the stratospheric ozone in the ECMWF system, the stratosphere-tropospheric coupling improves. This highlights the potential benefits of this new ozone model to exploit stratospheric sources of predictability and improve weather predictions over Europe on a range of time scales.

The Combined Influence of the Stratospheric Polar Vortex and ENSO on Zonal Asymmetries in the Southern Hemisphere Upper Tropospheric Circulation during Austral Spring and Summer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisol Osman ◽  
Theodore Shepherd ◽  
Carolina Vera
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Austral Spring ◽  
Stratospheric Polar Vortex ◽  
Wave Source ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Rossby Wave Source ◽  
Enso Teleconnections ◽  
Tropospheric Circulation

&lt;p&gt;The influence of El Nin&amp;#771;o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Stratospheric Polar Vortex (SPV) on the zonal asymmetries in the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation during spring and summer is examined. The main objective is to explore if the SPV can modulate the ENSO teleconnections in the extratropics. We use a large ensemble of seasonal hindcasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Integrated Forecast System to provide a much larger sample size than is possible from the observations alone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We find a small but statistically significant relationship between ENSO and the SPV, with El Nin&amp;#771;o events occurring with weak SPV and La Nin&amp;#771;a events occurring with strong SPV more often than expected by chance, in agreement with previous works. We show that the zonally asymmetric response to ENSO and SPV can be mainly explained by a linear combination of the response to both forcings, and that they can combine constructively or destructively. From this perspective, we find that the tropospheric asymmetries in response to ENSO are more intense when El Nin&amp;#771;o events occur with weak SPV and La Nin&amp;#771;a events occur with strong SPV, at least from September through December. In the stratosphere, the ENSO teleconnections are mostly confounded by the SPV signal. The analysis of Rossby Wave Source and of wave activity shows that both are stronger when El Nin&amp;#771;o events occur together with weak SPV, and when La Nin&amp;#771;a events occur together with strong SPV.&lt;/p&gt;

Climatology of Anticyclonic and Cyclonic Rossby Wave Breaking on the Dynamical Tropopause in the Southern Hemisphere

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 1239-1251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Song ◽  
Chongyin Li ◽  
Jing Pan ◽  
Wen Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Rossby Wave ◽  
Zonal Wind ◽  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Wave Breaking ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Austral Winter ◽  
Rossby Wave Breaking ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Medium Range

Abstract The characteristics of the climatological distribution of the anticyclonic (LC1) and cyclonic (LC2) Rossby wave breaking (RWB) in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) are investigated by calculating the occurrence frequency of the LC1- and LC2-like stratospheric potential vorticity (PV) streamers in the SH during the austral summer [December–February (DJF)] and wintertime [June–August (JJA)] on several isentropic surfaces by using the 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-40) daily dataset. The results show that 1) on the equatorward flank of the climatological midlatitude jet (MLJ), the LC1-like PV streamers are frequently found over the central oceanic regions, whereas the LC2-like PV streamers are almost absent. On the poleward flank of the climatological MLJ, both types of PV streamers are frequently observed and the LC2-like PV streamers predominate; 2) the regions where the occurrences of the PV streamers are frequent overlap the weak zonal wind regions; and 3) in austral winter, a “double-jet” setting is evident in two regions of the SH [the double-jet upstream (DU) and the spilt jet region]. In the double-jet setting regions, the LC1-like PV streamers are frequently found both in the DU and the split-jet regions, while the occurrence of the LC2-like PV streamers is frequent in the split-jet region but is rather infrequent in the DU region.

Emergence of Southern Hemisphere circulation changes in response to ozone recovery

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Zambri ◽  
Susan Solomon ◽  
David Thompson ◽  
Qiang Fu
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Montreal Protocol ◽  
Stratospheric Polar Vortex ◽  
Surface Climate ◽  
Antarctic Ozone ◽  
Ozone Depleting Substances ◽  
Circulation Changes

&lt;p&gt;Ozone depletion in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) stratosphere in the late 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; century cooled the air there, strengthening the SH stratospheric westerly winds near 60&amp;#186;S and altering SH surface climate. Since ~1999, trends in Antarctic ozone have begun to recover, exhibiting a flattening followed by a sign reversal in response to decreases in stratospheric chlorine concentration due to the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty banning the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. Here we show that the post&amp;#8211;1999 increase in ozone has resulted in thermal and circulation changes of opposite sign to those that resulted from stratospheric ozone losses, including a warming of the SH polar lower stratosphere and a weakening of the SH stratospheric polar vortex.&amp;#160; Further, these altered trends extend to the upper troposphere, albeit of smaller magnitudes. &amp;#160;Observed post&amp;#8211;1999 trends of temperature and circulation in the stratosphere are about 20&amp;#8211;25% the magnitude of those of the ozone depletion era, and are broadly consistent with expectations based on modeled depletion-era trends and variability of both ozone and reactive chlorine, thereby indicating the emergence of healing of dynamical impacts of the Antarctic ozone hole.&lt;/p&gt;

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