Impact of mesospheric intrusions on ozone-tracer relations in the stratospheric polar vortex

Ozone‐tracer relations are used to quantify chemical ozone loss in the polar vortices. The underlying assumptions for the application of this technique were extensively discussed in recent years. However, the impact intrusions of mesospheric air into the polar stratosphere have on estimates of chemi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 2007-12, Vol.112 (D23), p.D23307-n/a
Main Authors: Müller, Rolf, Tilmes, Simone, Grooß, Jens-Uwe, Engel, Andreas, Oelhaf, Hermann, Wetzel, Gerald, Huret, Nathalie, Pirre, Michel, Catoire, Valéry, Toon, Geoff, Nakajima, Hideaki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerodynamics
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Atmospheric Composition and Structure
Atmospheric Processes
composition and chemistry
constituent transport and chemistry
Core loss
Earth Sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Estimates
Exact sciences and technology
Fluid flow
Geophysics
Intrusion
Mesospheric dynamics
mesospheric intrusions into the stratosphere
Middle atmosphere
Middle atmosphere dynamics
Ozone
ozone-tracer relations
Physics
polar ozone loss
Polar vortex
Sciences of the Universe
Vortices
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Summary:Ozone‐tracer relations are used to quantify chemical ozone loss in the polar vortices. The underlying assumptions for the application of this technique were extensively discussed in recent years. However, the impact intrusions of mesospheric air into the polar stratosphere have on estimates of chemical ozone loss based on the ozone‐tracer technique has not hitherto been studied. Here, we revisit observations of an intrusion of mesospheric air down to altitudes of ∼25 km (∼600 K potential temperature) in the Arctic vortex in 2003. The mesospheric intrusion was identified in three balloon profiles in January and March 2003 as a strong enhancement in CO. In contrast, NOy was not enhanced in the mesospheric air relative to surrounding air masses as shown by the measurement in late March 2003. The measurements influenced by mesospheric air show ozone mixing ratios ranging between 3.6 and 5.6 ppm, which are clearly greater than those found in the “early vortex” reference relation employed to deduce chemical ozone loss. Thus the impact of intrusions of mesospheric air into the polar vortex on chemical ozone loss estimates based on ozone‐tracer relations are likely small; the correlations cannot be affected in a way that would lead to an overestimate of ozone depletion. Therefore ozone‐tracer relations may be used for deducing chemical ozone loss in Arctic winter 2002–2003. Here we use ILAS‐II satellite measurements to deduce an average chemical ozone loss in the vortex core for the partial column 380–550 K of 37 ± 11 Dobson units in March and of 50 ± 10 Dobson units in April 2003.
ISSN:0148-0227
2169-897X
2156-2202
2169-8996
DOI:10.1029/2006JD008315