Vortex-averaged Arctic ozone depletion in the winter 2002/2003

A total ozone depletion of 68±7 Dobson units be- tween 380 and 525 K from 10 December 2002 to 10 March 2003 is derived from ozone sonde data by the vortex-average method, taking into account both diabatic descent of the air masses and transport of air into the vortex. When the vortex is divided into three equal-area regions, the results are 85±9 DU for the collar region (closest to the edge), 52±5 DU for the vortex centre and 68±7 DU for the middle region in between centre and collar. Our results compare well with other studies: We find good agreement with ozone loss deduced from SAOZ data, with results inferred from POAM III observations and with re- sults from tracer-tracer correlations using HF as the long- lived tracer. We find a higher ozone loss than that deduced by tracer-tracer correlations using CH4. We have made a careful comparison with Match results: The results were recalculated using a common time period, vortex edge definition and height interval. The two methods generally compare very well, except at the 475 K level which exhibits an unexplained discrepancy.