An overview of the SOLVE/THESEO 2000 campaign

Paul A. Newman (1) , Neil R. P. Harris (2) , Alberto Adriani (3) , Georgios T. Amanatidis (4) , James G. Anderson (5) , Geir O. Braathen (6) , William H. Brune (7) , Kenneth S. Carslaw (8) , Michael S. Craig (9) , Philip L. Decola (10) , Marielle Guirlet (11) , R. Stephen Hipskind (9) , Michael J. Kurylo (10, 12) , Harry Küllmann (13) , Niels Larsen (14) , Gérard Mégie (15) , Jean-Pierre Pommereau (15) , Lamont R. Poole (16) , Mark R. Schoeberl (1) , Fred Stroh (17) , Owen B. Toon (18) , Charles R. Trepte (16) , Michel van Roozendael (19)

1 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2 EORCU - European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit [Cambridge]
3 ISAC - CNR Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate
4 European Commission - DG Research and Innovation
5 Harvard University
6 NILU - Norsk Institutt for Luftforskning
7 Penn State - Pennsylvania State University
8 University of Leeds
9 ARC - NASA Ames Research Center
10 NASA Headquarters
11 ACRI-ST - Analytic and Computational Research, Inc. - Earth Sciences
12 NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology [Gaithersburg]
13 University of Bremen
14 DMI - Danish Meteorological Institute
15 SA - Service d'aéronomie
16 LaRC - NASA Langley Research Center [Hampton]
17 FZJ - Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH | Centre de recherche de Jülich | Jülich Research Centre
18 University of Colorado [Boulder]
19 BIRA-IASB - Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique

Between November 1999 and April 2000, two major field experiments, the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) and the Third European Stratospheric Experiment on Ozone (THESEO 2000), collaborated to form the largest field campaign yet mounted to study Arctic ozone loss. This international campaign involved more than 500 scientists from over 20 countries. These scientists made measurements across the high and middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The main scientific aims of SOLVE/THESEO 2000 were to study (1) the processes leading to ozone loss in the Arctic vortex and (2) the effect on ozone amounts over northern midlatitudes. The campaign included satellites, research balloons, six aircraft, ground stations, and scores of ozonesondes. Campaign activities were principally conducted in three intensive measurement phases centered on early December 1999, late January 2000, and early March 2000. Observations made during the campaign showed that temperatures were below normal in the polar lower stratosphere over the course of the 1999-2000 winter. Because of these low temperatures, extensive polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) formed across the Arctic. Large particles containing nitric acid trihydrate were observed for the first time, showing that denitrification can occur without the formation of ice particles. Heterogeneous chemical reactions on the surfaces of the PSC particles produced high levels of reactive chlorine within the polar vortex by early January. This reactive chlorine catalytically destroyed about 60% of the ozone in a layer near 20 km between late January and mid-March 2000, with good agreement being found between a number of empirical and modeling studies. The measurements made during SOLVE/THESEO 2000 have improved our understanding of key photochemical parameters and the evolution of ozone-destroying forms of chlorine.

Mots clés: Middle atmosphere-energy deposition; Middle atmosphere dynamics; SOLVE; THESEO 2000; ozone loss; stratosphere; polar vortex

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Paul A. Newman, Neil R. P. Harris, Alberto Adriani, Georgios T. Amanatidis, James G. Anderson, et al.. An overview of the SOLVE/THESEO 2000 campaign. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2002, 107 (D20), pp.SOL 1-1-SOL 1-26. ⟨10.1029/2001JD001303⟩. ⟨hal-04110048⟩