A long-term stratospheric ozone data set from assimilation of satellite observations: High-latitude ozone anomalies

A 29 year data set of stratospheric ozone from sequential assimilation of solar backscatter UV (SBUV) satellite ozone profile observations into a chemical transport model is introduced and validated against independent observations (satellite instruments and sondes). Our assimilated data set shows excellent agreement with ozone profile data from sonde measurements from high‐latitude observation sites on both hemispheres and Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) satellite observations, including during polar night when no SBUV observations are available. Although we only assimilate ozone profiles, total column ozone in the assimilated data set is in good agreement with independent satellite observations from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY), and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). The data set can thus be viewed as a consistent long‐term data set closing the gaps in satellite observations in order to investigate high‐latitude ozone variability. We then use the assimilated data set to analyze the development and persistence of both high and low ozone anomalies in the Arctic stratosphere. Ozone anomalies typically develop in the 1000 K potential temperature (∼35 km) region and slowly descend from there, remaining visible for around 7 months. Anomalies in the stratospheric circulation, expressed by the Northern Hemisphere annular mode (NAM) index, show a large influence on ozone anomalies. Extreme phases of the NAM index (strong and weak vortex events) lead to the creation of distinctively shaped ozone anomalies, which first appear in the uppermost stratosphere and then rapidly cover the upper and middle stratosphere, from where they then slowly descend into the lowermost stratosphere within 5 months.