A study of polar ozone depletion based on sequential assimilation of satellite data from the ENVISAT/MIPAS and Odin/SMR instruments

Journal article, 2006

The objective of this study is to demonstrate how polar ozone depletion can be mapped and quantified by assimilating ozone data from satellites into the wind driven transport model DIAMOND, (Dynamical Isentropic Assimilation Model for OdiN Data). With access to a large set of satellite data, ozone fields can be built up that are far less noisy than the individual satellite ozone profiles. The transported fields can subsequently be compared to later sets of incoming satellite data so that the rates and geographical distribution of ozone depletion can be determined. By tracing the amounts of solar irradiation received by different air parcels in a transport model it is furthermore possible to study the photolytic reactions that destroy ozone. In this study, destruction of ozone that took place in the Antarctic winter of 2003 and in the Arctic winter of 2002/2003 has been examined by assimilating ozone data from the ENVISAT/MIPAS and Odin/SMR satellite-instruments. Large scale depletion of ozone has, as expected, been observed in the Antarctic polar vortex of 2003 when sunlight returned after the polar night. Ozone depletion in the range 10–20% was furthermore observed on the 475 K potential temperature level in the central regions of the 2002/2003 Arctic polar vortex.