Three-dimensional simulations of springtime dissipation of the Antarctic ozone hole*

The substantial springtime loss in ozone amount in the lower Antarctic polar stratosphere has prompted extensive studies of ozone depletion over the last two decades (World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 1992, 1995, 1999). Due to the important role ozone plays in absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation, the ozone decline in mid-latitudes and dramatic ozone depletion over Antarctica may have potentially important impacts on human life and the Earth's climate. As a result, the state of the ozone layer and its changes has become a topic of great concern for the public and governments. In general, the spatial distribution and evolution of ozone are determined by transport and chemical processes. Therefore, knowledge of stratospheric transport and chemistry is important for understanding the distribution of ozone and the causes of stratospheric ozone depletion. As an increasingly important tool to study atmospheric transport and chemistry, global chemical transport models (CTMs) have been developed and used to investigate stratospheric trace gases and their variability. In recent years there have been a number of CTM studies dealing with stratospheric ozone, its annual cycle (e.g., Douglass et al. 1996; Waugh et al. 1997), and the three-dimensional (3D) nature of ozone depletion (Lefevre et al. 1994; Chipperfield et al. 1996; Chipperfield 1999). In this study we examine CTM simulations of stratospheric Aust. Met. Mag. 52 (2003) 1-9