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Animation of the Antarctic Ozone Loss

Antarctic Ozone in Winter 1998

The evolution of ozone mixing ratio (in units of ppmv) in the polar vortex is illustrated by a sequence of instantaneous maps at 70 hPa (lower stratosphere) from the assimilation that included POAM III and NOAA 14 SBUV/2 data (Stajner and Wargan 2004). In wintertime, before heterogeneous ozone loss begins, slow descent leads to an accumulation of ozone in the lower stratosphere within the polar vortex (see e.g. Chapter 3 in the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Deletion: 2002). Thus, higher ozone values are seen over Antarctica than in the middle latitudes. In springtime the sun starts to illuminate the air mass within the polar vortex. Activated chlorine and bromine compounds serve as catalysts for rapid ozone loss, which begins near the polar vortex edge. A distinction between the weakly mixed ring of air near the Antarctic vortex edge and the well-mixed vortex core was pointed out by Lee et al. (2001, J. Geophys. Res., 106(D3), 3203-3212). Distortions of the vortex push parts of the vortex to lower latitudes where sunlight is stronger. As sunlight advances towards the pole almost complete ozone depletion is seen throughout the vortex.