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Fluid dynamic aspects of the Antarctic ozone hole phenomena are studied. Data collected by the ER-2 aircraft as part of the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE) are used to calculate the potential vorticity distribution on potential temperature surfaces. Most of the ER-2 flights show a monotonic decrease in potential vorticity and nitrous oxide toward the pole on isentropic surfaces.
In situ measurements of chlorine monoxide, bromine monoxide, and ozone are extrapolated globally, with the use of meteorological tracers, to infer the loss rates for ozone in the Arctic lower stratosphere during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition II (AASE II) in the winter of 1991-1992. The analysis indicates removal of 15 to 20 percent of ambient ozone because of elevated concentrations of chlorine monoxide and bromine monoxide. Observations during AASE II define rates of removal of chlorine monoxide attributable to reaction with nitrogen dioxide (produced by photolysis of nitric acid) and to production of hydrochloric acid. Ozone loss ceased in March as concentrations of chlorine monoxide declined. Ozone losses could approach 50 percent if regeneration of nitrogen dioxide were inhibited by irreversible removal of nitrogen oxides (denitrification), as presently observed in the Antarctic, or without denitrification if inorganic chlorine concentrations were to double.
Potential vorticity (PV) gradients defining the lower stratospheric vortex during the 1992-1993 winter were anomalously strong and persistent compared to those during the last 16 Arctic winters. For approximately equal to 3 months PV gradients were closer to typical Antarctic values than to most Arctic values. Air motion diagnostics computed for 3-dimensional air parcels confirm that the 1992-1993 Arctic lower stratospheric vortex was substantially more isolated than is typical. Such isolation will delay and reduce the export of the higher ozone typical of the winter lower stratospheric vortex to mid-latitudes. This may have contributed to the record-low total ozone amounts observed in northern mid-latitudes in 1993.
In situ measurements of chlorine monoxide, bromine monoxide, and ozone are extrapolated globally, with the use of meteorological tracers, to infer the loss rates for ozone in the Arctic lower stratosphere during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition II (AASE II) in the winter of 1991-1992. The analysis indicates removal of 15 to 20 percent of ambient ozone because of elevated concentrations of chlorine monoxide and bromine monoxide. Observations during AASE II define rates of removal of chlorine monoxide attributable to reaction with nitrogen dioxide (produced by photolysis of nitric acid) and to production of hydrochloric acid. Ozone loss ceased in March as concentrations of chlorine monoxide declined. Ozone losses could approach 50 percent if regeneration of nitrogen dioxide were inhibited by irreversible removal of nitrogen oxides (denitrification), as presently observed in the Antarctic, or without denitrification if inorganic chlorine concentrations were to double.
Previous analysis has shown that the distribution of O3 at high northern latitudes in the lower-to-middle stratosphere at the beginning of the winter season has a characteristic distribution, which is consistent between in situ and satellite measurements. Initial O3 profiles in the vortex are similar to each other and are quite different from outside the vortex at the same latitude and also from a zonal mean climatology. In the vortex, O3 is nearly constant from 500 to above 800 K with a value near 3 ppmv. Values outside the vortex are up to a factor of 2 higher and increase significantly with potential temperature. Model analysis indicates that the characteristic vortex O3 profiles arise from a combination of seasonally accelerated photochemical loss at high latitudes and minimal transport of air from lower latitudes. Analysis of the relatively high-resolution POAM data shows that these characteristic O3 distributions are consistent from year to year and between the hemispheres. Here we emphasize analysis of the 24-year time series of O3 data from SBUV in the lower-to-middle stratosphere at high latitudes in the fall vortex. We find that the variability of O3 from SBUV is relatively small in this regime and no significant trend is detectable. The implications of the findings for stratospheric O3 chemistry and transport will be explored.
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We use the correlation between CH(sub 4) and N(sub 2)O as measured during the POLARIS campaign in spring 1997 to estimate the degree of mixing between descended air masses from the vortex and air masses from mid-latitudes.
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Modern high resolution global atmospheric analyses are capable of resolving larger gravity waves, including their generation, propagation, and breaking. Orographically generated gravity waves that break in the middle stratosphere often appear as disturbances in maps of potential vorticity, a key stratospheric dynamical quantity. Using analyses from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, we show how gravity waves not only disturb the local flow above them but can generate flow instabilities leading to eddies that propagate around the stratospheric polar vortex, creating significant mixing across the vortex edge and into the polar region. These disturbances and mixing events are especially noticeable during NH winter months with low planetary scale wave activity such as in January 2022. During January 2022, the initially circular flow around the polar vortex was disrupted by breaking gravity waves, leading to unstable flow that created a chain of eddies around the vortex edge. The mixing associated with this process led to increased ozone in the upper stratosphere polar region.