Chlorine oxide as an indicator of ozone destruction in the winter-spring Arctic stratosphere based on Aura MLS observations
O.E. Bazhenov
V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Томск, Россия
Keywords: ozone, sudden stratospheric warming, solar exposure, chlorine oxide, temperature, Aura MLS and TEMIS observations
Abstract
Behavior of ozone in the Arctic is of major concern. Ozone anomalies occur every five years on the average. The last, record strong decrease of the ozone level in the stratosphere of the Arctic took place in March-April 2020. In February 2022, ozone destruction developed by the scenario very similar to the anomaly of 2020. Like in 2020, the ClO mixing ratio, which can be considered a reliable indicator of ozone destruction, strongly increased after the end of the polar night in Arctic latitudes in 2022, but the subsequent ozone depletion process was halted by a sudden major stratospheric warming on March 20, 2022. In this work, we analyze ozone destruction in 2020-2022 based on measurements of the total ozone content over 2003-2022 from the TEMIS service, profiles of the air temperature and ozone mixing ratio for 2005-2022 and of ClO mixing ratio for 2020-2022 from Aura MLS observations. The following sites are considered: Eureka, Canada; Ny-Ålesund, Norway; Thule, Greenland; and Resolute, Canada. A relationship is revealed between ozone and chlorine oxide contents. High coefficients of correlations between oscillations of the above parameters at close altitudes of their recording, as well as between the total O3 and ClO contents calculated from their profiles, indicates their close interrelation. Hence, the ClO concentration and total content can be used as indicators of ozone destruction in the Arctic stratosphere.
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