München 2004 – scientific programme

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UP: Umweltphysik

UP 12: Poster: Satelliten und Anwendungen

UP 12.4: Poster

Tuesday, March 23, 2004, 14:00–16:00, Schellingstr. 3

GOME observations of stratospheric trace gas distributions during the splitting vortex event in the Antarctic winter 2002 — •Walburga Wilms-Grabe, Sven Kühl, Steffen Beirle, Ulrich Platt, and Thomas Wagner — Institut für Umweltphysik Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, 69120 Heidelberg

The major stratospheric warming in the southern hemisphere during September/October 2002 led to abnormal conditions in the Antarctic stratosphere. This could obviously be seen by the early weakening of the ozone hole. For a better understanding of the dynamical and chemical processes during this special event, it is a crucial factor to study those key species that are involved in the stratospheric ozone chemistry, particularly chlorine and nitrogen compounds.

Satellite observations offer the possibility to give a thorough overview of the temporal and spatial evolution of the conditions in and around the split vortex. This contribution is presenting GOME measurements of ozone and ozone relevant species (O3, NO2, and OClO) during the period of the major stratospheric warming event, with main focus on OClO. OClO is exclusively formed by the reaction of BrO and ClO and thus can be used as an indicator for the chlorine activation of the stratosphere. Reactive nitrogen compounds control the duration of the stratospheric chlorine activation.

Dynamical and chemical interactions of the vortex event will be discussed and specifics will be pointed out.