Consequences of weakening of dynamic barrier of the Arctic polar vortex

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Abstract

The dynamic barrier is one of the physical characteristics of the polar vortices; it prevents subpolar air masses from penetrating into the vortex and contributes to a temperature decrease inside the vortex in the lower stratosphere. In the presence of a dynamic barrier in winter, chlorine compounds involved in the ozone destruction cycle accumulate on particles of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and heterogeneous reactions occur with the formation of molecular chlorine, and with the appearance of solar radiation over the polar region, photochemical reactions begin, leading to large-scale ozone depletion. When the dynamic barrier is weakened in winter, the temperature inside the vortex rises, PSC melts and, thus, the accumulation of chlorine cycle reagents on PSC is interrupted. We proposed dividing the Arctic polar vortex dynamics into 3 types according to the consequences: (1) the strong vortex, whose activity results in ozone depletion, (2) the weak vortex with breakdown in winter, marked by a sudden stratospheric warming, and (3) the stable vortex with an episode (episodes) weakening of the dynamic barrier in winter without ozone depletion in the period from late winter to spring. We have for the first time proposed a characteristic of the dynamic barrier of the polar vortex at all pressure levels from 100 to 1 hPa and described the consequences of its weakening. Using the vortex delineation method based on the data of the ERA5 and MERRA-2 reanalyses, we showed that in all cases when the polar ozone depletion was not recorded from late winter to spring under the conditions of the stable polar vortex, the dynamic barrier weakening and PSС melting was observed in midwinter.

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About the authors

V. V. Zuev

Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: vzuev@list.ru

Corresponding member of the RAS

Russian Federation, Tomsk

E. S. Savel’eva

Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vzuev@list.ru
Russian Federation, Tomsk; Moscow

E. A. Maslennikova

Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vzuev@list.ru
Russian Federation, Tomsk; Moscow

A. S. Tomashova

Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vzuev@list.ru
Russian Federation, Tomsk

V. N. Krupchatnikov

A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vzuev@list.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

O. G. Chkhetiani

A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vzuev@list.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

M. V. Kalashnik

A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: vzuev@list.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

References

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Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
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1. JATS XML
2. Fig. 1. Intraseasonal variation of minimum temperature in the region of 60–90° N, area with temperature T ≤ –78°C at levels of 30, 50 and 70 hPa and area of ​​PSO over the Arctic at level of 460 K in winter period on average for 1979–2022 with standard deviations (SD, ±1 σ).

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3. Fig. 2. Scatter plots of average daily values ​​of the PSO area at the 460 K level and the area with a temperature T ≤ –78°C at the 50 hPa level for December–February and the dynamics of the correlation coefficient between the characteristics under consideration from December 1 to March 1 for 1979–2022.

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4. Fig. 3. Fields of geopotential, wind speed and ozone mass mixing ratio at 50 hPa over the Arctic during the period from 5 December to 5 March 1999/2000, 2003/2004 and 2007/2008.

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5. Fig. 4. Time course of the mean wind speed at the eddy boundary, mean temperature inside the eddy, mean ozone mass ratio inside the eddy at 50 hPa, and PSO area at 460 K over the Arctic from November to March 1999/2000, 2003/2004, and 2007/2008.

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6. Fig. 5. Time course of the average wind speed along the vortex boundary, average temperature inside the vortex, average mass ratio of ozone mixture inside the vortex at 50 hPa, and the PSO area at 460 K over the Arctic from November to March on average for years with ozone anomalies, for years with selected SSW events, and for years with weakening of the dynamic barrier in winter (Table 1).

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7. Fig. 6. Fields of geopotential, wind speed and temperature at 50 hPa over the Arctic in winter 1978/1980, 1983/1984, 1987/1988, 1989/1990, 1993/1994, 1997/1998, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2013/2014 and 2016/2017.

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8. Fig. 7. Wind speed fields (in arbitrary units) at levels from 70 to 1 hPa over the Arctic before, during and after the weakening of the dynamic barrier in the winters of 2007/2008 and 2016/2017.

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