COMPARISON BETWEEN VERTICAL OZONE SOUNDINGS AND RECONSTRUCTED POTENTIAL VORTICITY MAPS BY CONTOUR ADVECTION WITH SURGERY

Sudden jumps and deep laminations, observed on vertical stratospheric ozone profiles during the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experime nt (EASOE) (winter 1991-1992) are explained as resulting from transpor t on isentropic layers. This is obtained by comparing the ozone profil es with high-resolution reconstruction of the potential vorticity. Mul tilayer isentropic contour advection with surgery (GAS) is performed u sing European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analyz ed winds. The results presented in this work are based on analyzing th e location of the edge of the polar vortex, the horizontal and vertica l extents of filamentary structures and intrusions within the polar vo rtex. The results are consistent with the assumption of high ozone con tent within the polar vortex which is valid during normal winter condi tions of the northern hemisphere. The resolution required to carry out this study is much higher than that of current operational analysis b y weather centers, while it is achievable by CAS reconstructions, whic h provide a dynamical understanding of the ozone variations.