Impact of mesospheric intrusions on ozone-tracer relations in the stratospheric polar vortex

The measurements influenced by mesospheric air show ozone mixing ratios ranging between 3.6 and 5.6 ppm, which are clearly greater than those found in the "early vortex" reference relation employed to deduce chemical ozone loss. Thus the impact of intrusions of mesospheric air into the polar vortex on chemical ozone loss estimates based on ozone-tracer relations are likely small; the correlations cannot be affected in a way that would lead to an overestimate of ozone depletion.

Therefore ozone-tracer relations may be used for deducing chemical ozone loss in Arctic winter 2002-2003. Here we use ILAS-II satellite measurements to deduce an average chemical ozone loss in the vortex core for the partial column 380–550 K of 37 ± 11 Dobson units in March and of 50 ± 10 Dobson units in April 2003.