Polar stratospheric cloud climatology based on CALIPSO spaceborne lidar measurements from 2006 to 2017

Pitts, Mıchael; Poole, L. R.; Gonzalez, Ryan

doi:10.5194/acp-18-10881-2018

Cited by 85 publications

(169 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(97 reference statements)

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“…In the Max simulation the ICE PSCs lasted until mid-March. CALIPSO (Pitts et al, 2007(Pitts et al, , 2018Spang et al, 2018) also observed PSCs in the 2010/2011 winter. The observed ICE PSC areas are comparable to the Fin- Figure 5.…”

Section: Polar Stratospheric Cloudsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Linking uncertainty in simulated Arctic ozone loss to uncertainties in modelled tropical stratospheric water vapour

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Stratospheric water vapour influences the chemical ozone loss in the polar stratosphere via control of the polar stratospheric cloud formation. The amount of water vapour entering the stratosphere through the tropical tropopause differs substantially between simulations from chemistry–climate models (CCMs). This is because the present-day models, e.g. CCMs, have difficulties in capturing the whole complexity of processes that control the water transport across the tropopause. As a result there are large differences in the stratospheric water vapour between the models. In this study we investigate the sensitivity of simulated Arctic ozone loss to the simulated amount of water vapour that enters the stratosphere through the tropical tropopause. We used a chemical transport model, FinROSE-CTM, forced by ERA-Interim meteorology. The water vapour concentration in the tropical tropopause was varied between 0.5 and 1.6 times the concentration in ERA-Interim, which is similar to the range seen in chemistry–climate models. The water vapour changes in the tropical tropopause led to about 1.5 ppmv less and 2 ppmv more water vapour in the Arctic polar vortex compared to the ERA-Interim, respectively. The change induced in the water vapour concentration in the tropical tropopause region was seen as a nearly one-to-one change in the Arctic polar vortex. We found that the impact of water vapour changes on ozone loss in the Arctic polar vortex depends on the meteorological conditions. The strongest effect was in intermediately cold stratospheric winters, such as the winter of 2013/2014, when added water vapour resulted in 2 %–7 % more ozone loss due to the additional formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and associated chlorine activation on their surface, leading to ozone loss. The effect was less pronounced in cold winters such as the 2010/2011 winter because cold conditions persisted long enough for a nearly complete chlorine activation, even in simulations with prescribed stratospheric water vapour amount corresponding to the observed values. In this case addition of water vapour to the stratosphere led to increased areas of ICE PSCs but it did not increase the chlorine activation and ozone destruction significantly. In the warm winter of 2012/2013 the impact of water vapour concentration on ozone loss was small because the ozone loss was mainly NOx-induced. The results show that the simulated water vapour concentration in the tropical tropopause has a significant impact on the Arctic ozone loss and therefore needs to be well simulated in order to improve future projections of the recovery of the ozone layer.

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Section: Polar Stratospheric Cloudsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Linking uncertainty in simulated Arctic ozone loss to uncertainties in modelled tropical stratospheric water vapour

et al. 2018

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“…There is a large variability in observed NAT number densities (e.g. Pitts et al, 2011;Spang et al, 2018;Pitts et al, 2018) and choosing a particular number constitutes a simplification. However, assuming higher number densities for NAT leads to larger NAT surface areas (Drdla and M€ uller, 2012) and thus to a larger heterogeneous reactivity on NAT.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relevance of reactions of the methyl peroxy radical (CH3O2) and methylhypochlorite (CH3OCl) for Antarctic chlorine activation and ozone loss

Zafar¹,

Müller²,

Grooß³

et al. 2018

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

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“…The left and middle columns of Figure show MLS gas‐phase HNO 3 observations at the pressure (altitude) levels of 31 hPa (~22 km) and 46 hPa (~20 km). These are the altitudes where PSCs, HNO 3 sequestration, and denitrification are typically found in the Arctic (Pitts et al, ; Waibel et al, ). In the right column, we show MIPAS observations at 20 km, where NAT particles are expected to grow to large sizes during gravitational settling (Carslaw et al, ; Fahey et al, ).…”

Section: Complementary Mipas and Mls Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vortex‐Wide Detection of Large Aspherical NAT Particles in the Arctic Winter 2011/12 Stratosphere

Woiwode

Höpfner

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Micron‐sized HNO3‐containing particles in polar stratospheric clouds are known to denitrify the polar winter stratosphere and support chemical ozone loss. We show that populations of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles with volume‐equivalent median radii of 3–7 μm can be detected vortex‐wide by means of infrared limb sounding. Key for detection are the applied optical characteristics of highly aspherical particles consisting of the β‐NAT phase. Spectroscopic signatures and ambient conditions of detected populations show that these particles play a key role in denitrification of the Arctic winter stratosphere. Complementary gas‐phase HNO3 observations indicate collocated highly efficient HNO3 sequestration within days and are consistent with measured spectral signals of populations of large NAT particles. High amounts of condensed gas‐phase equivalent HNO3 exceeding 10 ppbv and long persistence of detected populations, despite expected gravitational settling, imply that our understanding of the particles is incomplete.

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Polar stratospheric cloud climatology based on CALIPSO spaceborne lidar measurements from 2006 to 2017

Cited by 85 publications

References 102 publications

Linking uncertainty in simulated Arctic ozone loss to uncertainties in modelled tropical stratospheric water vapour

Linking uncertainty in simulated Arctic ozone loss to uncertainties in modelled tropical stratospheric water vapour

The relevance of reactions of the methyl peroxy radical (CH<sub>3</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) and methylhypochlorite (CH<sub>3</sub>OCl) for Antarctic chlorine activation and ozone loss

Vortex‐Wide Detection of Large Aspherical NAT Particles in the Arctic Winter 2011/12 Stratosphere

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