Observations of ozone and polar stratospheric clouds at Heiss Island during winter 1988–1989

Abstract

Simultaneous balloonborne measurements of ozone and polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) were made over Heiss Island (80.5°N, 57.6°E) during the 1988–1989 winter. These soundings were supplemented with additional ozonesondes and meteorological information obtained from regular radiosondes and rocketsondes. The ozone measurements taken by themselves do not suggest a spring decrease in ozone over Heiss Island. However, a comparison with ozonesonde data from another location near the solar terminator can be interpreted as suggesting ∼20% ozone loss between 17.5 and 24 km in the outer vortex. This would roughly correspond to a loss of ∼10 Dobson units (DU) or 3–4% loss in total ozone column. Observed transport effects make the identification of true ozone loss considerably more difficult and uncertain. No statistically significant direct correlation in the vertical structure of PSCs and ozone near the center of the dark Arctic vortex was observed in the limited number of soundings.