Evolution of the intensity and duration of the Southern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex edge for the period 1979–2020

Lecouffe, Audrey; Godin-Beekmann, Sophie; Pazmiño, Andrea; Hauchecorne, Alain

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4187-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4187-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4187-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 6

Research article

|

31 Mar 2022

Research article |

| 31 Mar 2022

Evolution of the intensity and duration of the Southern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex edge for the period 1979–2020

Audrey Lecouffe, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Andrea Pazmiño, and Alain Hauchecorne

Data sets

ERA-Interim ECMWF https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-interim

Monthly averages of Solar 10.7 cm flux National Research Council Canada (Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory) ftp://ftp.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/spaceweather/solar_flux/monthly_averages/solflux_monthly_average.txt

Monthly mean zonal wind components Institute of Meteorology, Freie Unversistät Berlin https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/met/ag/strat/produkte/qbo/qbo.dat

Multivariate ENSO Index Version 2 (MEI.v2) NOAA https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/mei

Short summary

This study uses a model developped at LATMOS (France) to analyze the behavior of the Antarctic polar vortex from 1979 to 2020 at 675 K, 550 K, and 475 K isentropic levels. We found that the vortex edge intensity is stronger during the September–October–November period, while its edge position is less extended during this period. The polar vortex is stronger and lasts longer during solar minimum years. Breakup dates of the polar vortex are linked to the ozone hole and maximum wind speed.