Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 7 3 2007 10.5194/acpd-7-6557-2007 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/6557/2007/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/6557/2007/acpd-7-6557-2007.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/6557/2007/acpd-7-6557-2007.pdf 6557 6572 2007-05-15 Observation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds down to the Mediterranean coast P. Keckhut keckhut@aerov.jussieu.fr Ch. David M. Marchand S. Bekki J. Jumelet A. Hauchecorne Service d'Aéronomie, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, B.P. 3, 91371, Verrières-le-Buisson, France A Polar Stratospheric Cloud (PSC) was detected for the first time in January 2006 over Southern Europe after 25 years of systematic lidar observations. This cloud was observed while the polar vortex was highly distorted during the initial phase of a major stratospheric warming. Very cold stratospheric temperatures (<190 K) centred over the Northern-Western Europe were reported, extending down to the South of France where lidar observations were performed. CTM (Chemical Transport Model) investigations show that this event led to a significant direct ozone destruction (35 ppb/day), within and outside the vortex as chlorine activated air masses were moved to sunlight regions allowing ozone destruction. If such exceptional events of mid-latitudes PSCs were to become frequent in the future, they should not compromise the ozone recovery because their effect appears to be limited temporally and spatially. More importantly, these events might tend to be associated with the initial phase of a stratospheric warming that results into a weakening and warming of the polar vortex and hence into a reduced probability occurrence of PSC temperatures during the rest of the winter. Austin, J. and Wilson, R. J.: Ensemble simulations of the decline and recovery of stratospheric ozone, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D16314, doi:10.1029/2005JD006907, 2006. Carslaw, K. S., Luo, B. P., Clegg, S. L., Peter, T., Brimblecombe, P., and Crutzen, P. J.: Stratospheric aerosol growth and HNO₃ gas phase depletion from coupled HNO₃ and water uptake by liquid particles, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 2479–2482, 1994. Carter, R. D. and Bridge, G. C.: Stratospheric cirrosstratus over Scotland, Weather, 33, 309–318, 1978. Charlton, A. J. and Polvani, L. M.: A new look at stratospheric sudden warmings I: climatology and modeling benchmarks, J. Climate, 20, 449–469, 2007. Chazette, P., David, C., Lefrere, J., Godin, S., Pelon, J., and Mégie, G.: Comparative lidar study of the optical, geometrical, and dynamical properties of stratospheric post-volcanic aerosols, following the eruption of El Chichon and Mount Pinatubo, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 23 195–23 207, 1995. Chipperfield, M. P., Feng, W., and Rex, M.: Arctic Ozone Loss and Climate Sensitivity: Updated Three-Dimensional Model Study, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L11813, doi:10.1029/2005GL022674, 2005. Crutzen, P. J. and Arnold, F.: Nitric acid cloud formation in the cold Antarctic stratosphere: A major cause for the springtime "ozone hole", Nature, 324, 651– 655, 1986. David C., Godin, S., Mégie, G. , Emery, Y., and Flesia, C.: Physical state and composition of Polar Stratospheric Clouds inferred from airborne lidar measurements during SESAME, J. Atmos. Chem., 27, 1–16, 1997. David, C., Bekki, S., Godin, S., Mégie, G., and Chipperfield, M. P.: Polar stratospheric clouds climatology over Dumont d'Urville between 1989 and 1993 and the influence of volcanic aerosols on their formation, J. Geophys., Res., 103, 22 163–22 180, 1998. Goldfarb, L., Keckhut, P., Chanin, M. L., and Hauchecorne, A.: Cirrus climatological results from lidar measurements at OHP (44° N, 6° E), Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 9, 1687–1690, 2001. Godin, S., Marchand, M., Hauchecorne, A., and Lefèvre, F.: Influence of Arctic polar ozone depletion on lower stratospheric ozone amounts at Haute-Provence Observatory (43.92° N, 5.71° E), J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), 8272, doi:10.1029/2001JD000516, 2002, Goutail F., Pommereau, J. P., Lefèvre, F., van Roozendael, M. , Andersen, S. B., Kastab Hoistar, B. A., Dorokhov, V., Kyrö, E., Chipperfield, M. P., and Feng, W.: Early unusual ozone loss during the Arctic winter 2002/2003 compared to other winters, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 665–677, 2005. Hanson D. R. and Mauersberger, K.: Laboratory studies of the nitric acid trihydrate: Implication for south polar stratosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 15, 855–858, 1988. Hauchecorne, A., Godin, S., Marchand, M., Heese, B., and Souprayen, C.: Quantification of the transport of chemical constituents from the polar vortex to middle latitudes in the lower stratosphere using the high-resolution advection model MIMOSA and effective diffusivity, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 8289, doi:10.1029/2001JD000491, 2002. Hervig, M.: Stratospheric clouds over England, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 1137–1140, 1999. Junge C. E., Changon, C. W., and Manson, J. E.: Stratospheric aerosols, J. Meteorol., 18, 81–108, 1961. Keckhut, P., Borchi, F., Bekki, S., Hauchecorne, A., and SiLaouina, M.: Cirrus classification at mid-latitude from systematic lidar observations, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 45(2), 249–258, doi:10.1175/JAM2348.1, 2006. Keckhut, P., Hauchecorne, A., Bekki, S., Colette, A., David, C., and Jumelet, J.: Indications of thin cirrus clouds in the stratosphere at mid-latitudes, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 3407–3414, 2005. Lefèvre, F., Brasseur, G. P., Folkins, I., Smith, A. K., and Simon, P.: Chemistry of the 1991-1992 stratospheric winter: Three-dimensional model simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 8183–8195, 1994. Marchand, M., Godin, S., Hauchecorne, A., Lefèvre, F., Bekki, S., and Chipperfield, M.: Influence of polar ozone loss on northern midlatitude regions estimated by a high-resolution chemistry transport model during winter 1999–2000, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D5), 8326, doi:10.1029/2001JD00906, 2003. McCormick, M. P., Steele, H. M., Hamill, P., Chu, W. P., and Swissler, T. J.: Polar Stratospheric Clouds sightings by SAM II, J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 1387–1397, 1982. Murray, F. W.: On the computation of saturation vapor pressure. J. Appl. Meteorol., 6, 203–204, 1967. Poole, L. R. and McCormick, M. P.: Polar Stratospheric Clouds and the Antarctic ozone hole, J. Geophys. Res., 93, 8423–8430, 1989. Ramaswamy V., Chanin, M. L., Angell, J., Barnett, J., Gaffen, D., Gelman, M., Keckhut, P., Kolshelkov, Y., Labitzke, K., Lin, J.-J. R., O'Neill, A., Nash, J., Randel, W., Rood, R., Shine, K., Shiotani, M., and Swinbank, R.: Stratospheric Temperature Changes: Observations And Model Simulations, Rev. Geophys., 39, 71–122, 2001. Rex, M., Salawitch, R. J., von der Gathen, P., Harris, N. R. P. , Chipperfield, M. P., Naujokat, B.: Arctic ozone loss and climate change, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L04116, doi:10.1029/2003GL018844, 2004. Russell, P. B., Swissler, T. J., and McCormick, M. P.: Methodology for error analysis and simulation of lidar aerosol measurements, Appl. Opt., 18, 3783–3797, 1979. Shindell, D. T. and Grewe, V.: Separating the influence of halogen and climate changes on ozone recovery in the upper stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D12), ACL-3 doi:10.1029/2001JD000420, 2002. Stohl, A., Hittenberger, M., and Wotawa, G.: Validation of the Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART against large scale tracer experiment data, Atmos. Environ., 24 4245–24 4264, 1998. Streibel M., Rex, M., von der Gathen, P., Lehmann, R., Harris, N. R. P., Braathen, G. O., Reimer, E., Deckelmann, H., Chipperfield, M., Millard, G., Allaart, M., Andersen, S. B., Claude, H., Davies, J., De Backer, H., Dier, H., Dorokov, V., Fast, H., Gerding, M., Kyrö, E., Litynska, Z., Moore, D., Moran, E., Nagai, T., Nakane, H., Parrondo, C., Skrivankova, P., Stübi, R., Vaughan, G., Viatte, P., and Yushkov, V.: Chemical ozone loss in the Arctic winter 2002/2003 determined with Match, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 4311–4333, 2005 Tabazadeh, A., Turco, R. P., and Jacobson, M. Z.: A model for studying the composition and chemical effects of stratospheric aerosols, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 12 897–12 914, 1994. Toon, O. B., Browell, E. V., Kinne, S., and Jordan, J.: An analysis of lidar observations of Polar Stratospheric Clouds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 17, 393–396, 1990. Turco, R. P., Whitten, R. C., and Toon, O. B.: Stratospheric aerosols: Observation and theory, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 20(2), 233–279, 1982. Turco, R. P., Toon, O. B., and Hamill, P.: Heterogeneous physico-chemistry of polar ozone hole, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 16 493–16 510, 1989. Vaughan, G. and Wareing, D. P.: Stratospheric aerosol measurements by dual polarisation lidar, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 2441–2447, 2004. World Meteorological Organization, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1998, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, Report No. 44, Geneva, 1999.