Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 10 3 2010 10.5194/acpd-10-6681-2010 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/6681/2010/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/6681/2010/acpd-10-6681-2010.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/6681/2010/acpd-10-6681-2010.pdf 6681 6712 2010-03-10 A closer look at Arctic ozone loss and polar stratospheric clouds N. R. P. Harris neil.harris@ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk R. Lehmann M. Rex P. von der Gathen European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Rd, Cambridge, CB2 1HE, UK Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany The empirical relationship found between column-integrated Arctic ozone loss and the volume of polar stratospheric clouds inferred from meteorological analyses is updated and examined in more detail. The relationship is found to hold at different altitudes as well as in the column. Analysis of the photochemistry leading to the ozone loss shows that the early winter activation is limited by the photolysis of nitric acid. This step produces nitrogen dioxide which is converted to chlorine nitrate which in turn reacts with hydrogen chloride on any polar stratospheric clouds to form active chlorine. The rate-limiting step is the photolysis of nitric acid: this occurs at the same rate every year and so the interannual variation in the ozone loss is caused by the extent and persistence of the polar stratospheric clouds. In early spring the ozone loss rate increases as the solar insolation increases the photolysis of the chlorine monoxide dimer. However the length of the ozone loss period is determined by the photolysis of nitric acid which also occurs in the near ultraviolet. As a result of these compensating effects, the amount of the ozone loss is principally limited by the extent of original activation rather than its timing. 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