A233-03
The Remarkably Strong Arctic Stratospheric Polar Vortex of Winter 2020: Links to Record-Breaking Arctic Oscillation and Ozone Loss

Wednesday, 16 December 2020: 05:36
Virtual
Zachary D Lawrence, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States, Judith Perlwitz, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, Amy H Butler, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, Gloria L Manney, NorthWest Research Associates, Inc, Socorro, NM, United States, Paul A. Newman, NASA GSFC, Code 610, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Simon Lee, University of Reading, Department of Meteorology, Reading, RG6, United Kingdom and Eric Nash, Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD, United States
Abstract:
The 2019/2020 boreal winter featured an unusually strong and cold stratospheric polar vortex that arose because of anomalously low upward wave activity from the troposphere, as well as multiple downward wave coupling events. Simultaneous with the strong vortex, the tropospheric circulation was characterized by a record-breaking persistently positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation that lasted from January through March. Conditions within the vortex were primed for allowing significant ozone loss to occur because of the persistent cold within the vortex and the exceptionally strong transport barrier provided by the vortex edge. Consistent with these conditions, polar cap total column ozone over the February-April period was the lowest ever observed. This talk will provide a summary of these events and the details that influenced their development, with additional context from the historical record.
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