0000000000046697
AUTHOR
Michael C. Pitts
Widespread persistent polar stratospheric ice clouds in the Arctic
Abstract. Despite a general decline in ozone depleting substances in the stratosphere due to the multi-national commitment to substantially reduce the emissions of their precursors, the magnitude of Arctic polar ozone loss has not decreased in recent years. Thus new observations at cold conditions can help to enhance our knowledge of polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) formation and life cycle which is of relevance for Arctic ozone loss. In the unique winter 2015/16, cold and persistent areas with temperatures below the ice frost point Tice developed in the Arctic stratosphere, caused by reduced perturbations of the polar vortex through planetary waves. Due to these extreme conditions, unpreced…
Nitric acid trihydrate nucleation and denitrification in the Arctic stratosphere
Abstract. Nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles in the polar stratosphere have been shown to be responsible for vertical redistribution of reactive nitrogen (NOy). Recent observations by Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aboard the CALIPSO satellite have been explained in terms of heterogeneous nucleation of NAT on foreign nuclei, revealing this to be an important formation pathway for the NAT particles. In state of the art global- or regional-scale models, heterogeneous NAT nucleation is currently simulated in a very coarse manner using a constant, saturation-independent nucleation rate. Here we present first simulations for the Arctic winter 2009/2010 applying a n…