The structure of the polar vortex

TLDR

The study compares 1987 Southern Hemisphere and 1989 Northern Hemisphere lower‑stratospheric polar vortices, showing that both vortices are isolated air masses with trace‑gas exchange mainly at the vortex edge, yet exhibit notable interhemispheric differences. Aircraft measurements reveal that in both hemispheres the cyclonic side of the jet has stronger tracer displacement, weaker eddy mixing, and a poleward flow that descends at the jet core, while the Southern Hemisphere vortex’s larger size shifts its jet core equatorward, leading to a broader radiative equilibrium region and more extensive polar stratospheric cloud formation that alters H₂O, NOᵧ, ClO, and O₃.

Abstract

Reconstruction of the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment and Airborne Arctic Stratosphere Expedition aircraft constituent observations, radiative heating rate computations, and trajectory calculations are used to generate comparative pictures of the 1987 southern hemisphere (SH) late winter and 1989 northern hemisphere (NH) mid‐winter, lower stratospheric, polar vortices. Overall, both polar vortices define a region of highly isolated air, where the exchange of trace gases occurs principally at the vortex edge through erosional wave activity. Aircraft measurement showed that (1) between 50 and 100 mbar, horizontally stratified long‐lived tracers such as N 2 O are displaced downward 2–3 km on the cyclonic (poleward) side of the jet with the meridional tracer gradient sharpest at the jet core. (2) Eddy mixing rates, computed using parcel ensemble statistics, are an order of magnitude or more lower on the cyclonic side of the jet compared to those on the anticyclonic side. (3) Poleward zonal mean meridional flow on the anticyclonic side of the jet terminates in a descent zone at the jet core. Despite the similarities between the SH and NH winter vortices, there are important differences. During the aircraft campaign periods, the SH vortex jet core was located roughly 8°–10° equatorward of its NH counterpart after pole centering. As a result of the larger size of the SH vortex, the dynamical heating associated with the jet core descent zone is displaced further from the pole. The SH polar vortex can therefore approach radiative equilibrium temperatures over a comparatively larger area than the NH vortex. The subsequent widespread formation of polar stratospheric clouds within the much colder SH vortex core gives rise to the interhemispheric differences in the reconstructed H 2 O, NO y , ClO, and O 3 , species which are affected by polar stratospheric clouds.