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Prolonged stratospheric ozone loss in the 1995-96 arctic winter

Rex, Markus ; Harris, Neil R.P. ; Von der Gathen, Peter ; Lehmann, Ralph ; Braathen, Geir O. ; Reimer, Eberhard ; Beck, Alexander ; Chipperfield, Martyn P. ; Alfier, Reimond and Allaart, Marc , et al. (1997) In Nature 389(6653). p.835-838
Abstract

It is well established that extensive depletion of ozone, initiated by heterogenous reactions on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) can occur in both the Arctic and Antarctic lower stratosphere. Moreover, it has been shown that ozone loss rates in the Arctic region in recent years reached values comparable to those over the Antarctic. But until now the accumulated ozone losses over the Arctic have been the smaller, mainly because the period of Arctic ozone loss has not-unlike over the Antarctic-persisted well into springtime. Here we report the occurrence-during the unusually cold 1995-96 Arctic winter-of the highest recorded chemical ozone loss over the Arctic region. Two new kinds of behaviour were observed. First, ozone loss at some... (More)

It is well established that extensive depletion of ozone, initiated by heterogenous reactions on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) can occur in both the Arctic and Antarctic lower stratosphere. Moreover, it has been shown that ozone loss rates in the Arctic region in recent years reached values comparable to those over the Antarctic. But until now the accumulated ozone losses over the Arctic have been the smaller, mainly because the period of Arctic ozone loss has not-unlike over the Antarctic-persisted well into springtime. Here we report the occurrence-during the unusually cold 1995-96 Arctic winter-of the highest recorded chemical ozone loss over the Arctic region. Two new kinds of behaviour were observed. First, ozone loss at some altitudes was observed long after the last exposure to PSCs. This continued loss appears to be due to a removal of the nitrogen species that slow down chemical ozone depletion. Second, in another altitude range ozone loss rates decreased while PSCs were still present, apparently because of an early transformation of the ozone-destroying chlorine species into less active chlorinenitrate. The balance between these two counteracting mechanisms is probably a fine one, determined by small differences in wintertime stratospheric temperatures. If the apparent cooling trend in the Arctic stratosphere is real, more dramatic ozone losses may occur in the future.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
Nature
volume
389
issue
6653
pages
4 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:0030731829
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/39849
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
1f00a334-84b2-4fa5-9ce6-7ecb4e01b47f
date added to LUP
2025-09-30 18:55:56
date last changed
2025-10-02 11:16:14
@article{1f00a334-84b2-4fa5-9ce6-7ecb4e01b47f,
  abstract     = {{<p>It is well established that extensive depletion of ozone, initiated by heterogenous reactions on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) can occur in both the Arctic and Antarctic lower stratosphere. Moreover, it has been shown that ozone loss rates in the Arctic region in recent years reached values comparable to those over the Antarctic. But until now the accumulated ozone losses over the Arctic have been the smaller, mainly because the period of Arctic ozone loss has not-unlike over the Antarctic-persisted well into springtime. Here we report the occurrence-during the unusually cold 1995-96 Arctic winter-of the highest recorded chemical ozone loss over the Arctic region. Two new kinds of behaviour were observed. First, ozone loss at some altitudes was observed long after the last exposure to PSCs. This continued loss appears to be due to a removal of the nitrogen species that slow down chemical ozone depletion. Second, in another altitude range ozone loss rates decreased while PSCs were still present, apparently because of an early transformation of the ozone-destroying chlorine species into less active chlorinenitrate. The balance between these two counteracting mechanisms is probably a fine one, determined by small differences in wintertime stratospheric temperatures. If the apparent cooling trend in the Arctic stratosphere is real, more dramatic ozone losses may occur in the future.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rex, Markus and Harris, Neil R.P. and Von der Gathen, Peter and Lehmann, Ralph and Braathen, Geir O. and Reimer, Eberhard and Beck, Alexander and Chipperfield, Martyn P. and Alfier, Reimond and Allaart, Marc and O'Connor, Fiona and Dier, Horst and Dorokhov, Valery and Fast, Hans and Gil, Manuel and Kyrö, Esko and Litynska, Zenobia and Mikkelsen, Ib Steen and Molyneux, Mike G. and Nakane, Hideaki and Notholt, Justus and Rummukainen, Markku and Viatte, Pierre and Wenger, John}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6653}},
  pages        = {{835--838}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Prolonged stratospheric ozone loss in the 1995-96 arctic winter}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/39849}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/39849}},
  volume       = {{389}},
  year         = {{1997}},
}