HR: 0800h
AN: A11B-0039 [Abstracts]
TI: Observed Low Ozone Events in Coastal Antarctica - The Critical Role of Meteorology
AU: Jones, A E
EM: a.jones@bas.ac.uk
AF: British Antarctic Survey,
Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
United Kingdom
AU: * Wolff, E W
EM: e.wolff@bas.ac.uk
AF: British Antarctic Survey,
Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
United Kingdom
AU: Anderson, P S
EM: p.anderson@bas.ac.uk
AF: British Antarctic Survey,
Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
United Kingdom
AU: Turner, J
EM: j.turner@bas.ac.uk
AF: British Antarctic Survey,
Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
United Kingdom
AU: Rankin, A M
EM: a.rankin@bas.ac.uk
AF: British Antarctic Survey,
Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross
Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET
United Kingdom
AB:
Episodic loss of tropospheric ozone has been observed in both polar regions. The destruction of ozone appears to be
associated with halogen chemistry, generally accepted as being driven by bromine released from sea ice surfaces. Since March
2003, measurements of surface ozone have been made at the British Antarctic Survey Clean Air Sector Laboratory (CASLab) at
Halley station in coastal Antarctica. Detailed measurements of boundary layer meteorology as well as standard meteorology are
also measured at the CASLab. Combining the data allows us to probe the role of meteorology in these "low ozone events". Low
ozone events are observed at Halley on numerous occasions during Antarctic spring; on occasions the development of the event
and its recovery are strongly associated with the build-up and decline of a stable boundary layer; on occasions, extremely
rapid loss of ozone is observed (loss of 20ppbv in 3 minutes on one occasion) which are associated with larger scale
transport. We report here on the events recorded during spring 2003, and show the critical influence of meteorology. The
association suggests that the role of meteorology must be considered when striving to understand the mechanisms controlling
observed low ozone events, and hence extremely good meteorology will need to be included in any modeling calculations trying
to reproduce observed events.
DE: 9310 Antarctica
DE: 0365 Troposphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0368 Troposphere--constituent transport and chemistry
DE: 0399 General or miscellaneous
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting