Evolution of temperature, O₃, CO, and N₂O profiles during the exceptional 2009 Arctic major stratospheric warming as observed by lidar and millimeter‐wave spectroscopy at Thule (76.5°N, 68.8°W), Greenland

Abstract

The 2009 Arctic sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) was the most intense event of this kind ever observed. Unique ground‐based measurements of middle atmospheric profiles for temperature, O 3 , CO, and N 2 O obtained at Thule (76.5°N, 68.8°W), Greenland, in the period January to early March are used to show the evolution of the 2009 SSW in the region of its maximum intensity. The first sign of the SSW was detected at θ ∼ 2000 K on 19 January, when a rapid decrease in CO mixing ratio took place. The first evidence of a temperature increase was observed at the same level on 22 January, the earliest date on which lidar measurements reached above ∼50 km. The warming propagated from the upper to the lower stratosphere in 7 days and the record maximum temperature of 289 K was observed between 1300 and 1500 K potential temperature on 22 January. A strong vortex splitting was associated with the SSW. Stratospheric backward trajectories indicate that air masses arriving at Thule during the warming peak underwent a rapid compression and an intense adiabatic warming of up to 50 K. The rapid advection of air from the extratropics was also occasionally observed to produce elevated values of N 2 O mixing ratio. Starting in mid‐February the temperature profile and the N 2 O mixing ratio returned to the prewarming values in the mid and upper stratosphere, indicating the reformation of the vortex at these levels. In late winter, vertical descent from starting altitudes of ∼60 km is estimated from CO profiles to be 0.25 ± 0.05 km/day.