Darmstadt 2008 – scientific programme

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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik

UP 1: Atmosphäre und Klima

UP 1.5: Talk

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 09:30–09:45, 3B

What controls the inter-annual variability of Arctic ozone? — •Gregor Kiesewetter and Björn-Martin Sinnhuber — Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Bremen

Understanding the processes that control the inter-annual variability of Arctic ozone during winter and spring is important to predict how the ozone layer will evolve in the coming decades. It is now well accepted that high latitude total ozone during spring is largely controlled by the flux of planetary-scale waves into the stratosphere during mid-winter, as measured by the Eliassen-Palm (EP) flux. E.g., years with low wave activity during mid-winter exhibit reduced poleward and downward ozone transport, enhanced confinement of air masses at high latitudes and low temperatures that favour chemical ozone destruction. Recently we found an unexpected correlation between high latitude ozone in March and high latitude ozone in the mid-stratosphere during the previous autumn. This observation raises the question of what controls the inter-annual variability of meteorological conditions and ozone in the Arctic stratosphere during spring. In order to investigate the mechanisms of this correlation, we are currently performing an assimilation of long-term satellite ozone data into a chemical transport model, which offers a perspective of studying the underlying processes in greater detail.