Ground-Based Microwave Monitoring of Middle-Atmosphere Ozone Above Peterhof and Tomsk During Stratospheric Warming in the Winter of 2013–2014

Abstract

We present the results of studying the dynamics of middle-atmosphere ozone above Peterhof (60°N, 30°E) and Tomsk (56°N, 85°E) during stratospheric warming in the winter of 2013–2014 by the radiophysical method. In the ground-based observations we used the same microwave ozone meters (operated at 110.8 GHz) and the same techniques both for measuring the radiation spectra of ozone molecules and estimation of the vertical distribution of ozone in the middle atmosphere. These results were compared with satellite data on the total ozone content TOC (OMI/Aura), altitude profiles of ozone and temperature in the layer 20–60 km (MLS/Aura), and also with the data on ozone content in the layer 25–60 km, which were obtained using a Bruker IFS-125HR infrared Fourier spectrometer in Peterhof. Significant variations in ozone, which were caused by a stratospheric warming of the minor type, were observed in the atmosphere above Peterhof at altitudes of 40 to 60 km. The duration of dynamic perturbations above Peterhof was 2.5 months. Dynamic processes associated with the horizontal transport of air masses, which had an impact on the vertical structure of ozone in the middle atmosphere, were also detected above Tomsk, but this effect was less dependent on the background temperature variations.