[1] Simulations of the stratosphere from thirteen coupled chemistry-climate models (CCMs) are evaluated to provide guidance for the interpretation of ozone predictions made by the same CCMs. The focus of the evaluation is on how well the fields and processes that are important for determining the ozone distribution are represented in the simulations of the recent past. The core period of the evaluation is from 1980 to 1999 but long-term trends are compared for an extended period . Comparisons of polar high-latitude temperatures show that most CCMs have only small biases in the Northern Hemisphere in winter and spring, but still have cold biases in the Southern Hemisphere spring below 10 hPa. Most CCMs display the correct stratospheric response of polar temperatures to wave forcing in the Northern, but not in the Southern Hemisphere. Global long-term stratospheric temperature trends are in reasonable agreement with satellite and radiosonde observations. Comparisons of simulations of methane, mean age of air, and propagation of the annual cycle in water vapor show a wide spread in the results, indicating differences in transport. However, for around half the models there is reasonable agreement with observations. In these models the mean age of air and the water vapor tape recorder signal are generally better than reported in previous model intercomparisons. Comparisons of the water vapor and inorganic chlorine (Cl y ) fields also show a large intermodel spread. Differences in tropical water vapor mixing ratios in the lower stratosphere are primarily related to biases in the simulated tropical tropopause temperatures and not transport. The spread in Cl y , which is largest in the polar lower stratosphere, appears to be primarily related to transport differences. In general the amplitude and phase of the annual cycle in total ozone is well simulated apart from the southern high latitudes. Most CCMs show reasonable agreement with observed total D223081 of 29 ozone trends and variability on a global scale, but a greater spread in the ozone trends in polar regions in spring, especially in the Arctic. In conclusion, despite the wide range of skills in representing different processes assessed here, there is sufficient agreement between the majority of the CCMs and the observations that some confidence can be placed in their predictions. Citation: Eyring, V., et al. (2006), Assessment of temperature, trace species, and ozone in chemistry-climate model simulations of the recent past,

The response of stratospheric climate and circulation to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and ozone recovery in the twenty-first century is analyzed in simulations of 11 chemistry–climate models using near-identical forcings and experimental setup. In addition to an overall global cooling of the stratosphere in the simulations (0.59 ± 0.07 K decade−1 at 10 hPa), ozone recovery causes a warming of the Southern Hemisphere polar lower stratosphere in summer with enhanced cooling above. The rate of warming correlates with the rate of ozone recovery projected by the models and, on average, changes from 0.8 to 0.48 K decade−1 at 100 hPa as the rate of recovery declines from the first to the second half of the century. In the winter northern polar lower stratosphere the increased radiative cooling from the growing abundance of GHGs is, in most models, balanced by adiabatic warming from stronger polar downwelling. In the Antarctic lower stratosphere the models simulate an increase in low temperature extremes required for polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) formation, but the positive trend is decreasing over the twenty-first century in all models. In the Arctic, none of the models simulates a statistically significant increase in Arctic PSCs throughout the twenty-first century. The subtropical jets accelerate in response to climate change and the ozone recovery produces a westward acceleration of the lower-stratospheric wind over the Antarctic during summer, though this response is sensitive to the rate of recovery projected by the models. There is a strengthening of the Brewer–Dobson circulation throughout the depth of the stratosphere, which reduces the mean age of air nearly everywhere at a rate of about 0.05 yr decade−1 in those models with this diagnostic. On average, the annual mean tropical upwelling in the lower stratosphere (∼70 hPa) increases by almost 2% decade−1, with 59% of this trend forced by the parameterized orographic gravity wave drag in the models. This is a consequence of the eastward acceleration of the subtropical jets, which increases the upward flux of (parameterized) momentum reaching the lower stratosphere in these latitudes.

[1] The 11-year solar cycles in ozone and temperature are examined using new simulations of coupled chemistry climate models. The results show a secondary maximum in stratospheric tropical ozone, in agreement with satellite observations and in contrast with most previously published simulations. The mean model response varies by up to about 2.5% in ozone and 0.8 K in temperature during a typical solar cycle, at the lower end of the observed ranges of peak responses. Neither the upper atmospheric effects of energetic particles nor the presence of the quasi biennial oscillation is necessary to simulate the lower stratospheric response in the observed low latitude ozone concentration. Comparisons are also made between model simulations and observed total column ozone. As in previous studies, the model simulations agree well with observations. For those models which cover the full temporal range 1960-2005, the ozone solar signal below 50 hPa changes substantially from the first two solar cycles to the last two solar cycles. Further investigation suggests that this difference is due to an aliasing between the sea surface temperatures and the solar cycle during the first part of the period. The relationship between these results and the overall structure in the tropical solar ozone response is discussed. Further understanding of solar processes requires improvement in the observations of the vertically varying and column integrated ozone.

The sensitivity of the middle atmosphere circulation to ozone depletion and increase in greenhouse gases is assessed by performing multiyear simulations with a chemistry-climate model. Three simulations with fixed boundary conditions have been carried out: one simulation for the near-past ( 1960) and two simulations for the near-present ( 1990 and 2000) conditions, including changes in greenhouse gases, in total organic chlorine, and in average sea surface temperatures. Changes in ozone are simulated interactively by the coupled model. It is found that in the stratosphere, ozone decreases, and that in the Antarctic, the ozone hole develops in both the 1990 and the 2000 simulations but not in the 1960 simulation, as observed. The simulated temperature decreases in the stratosphere and mesosphere from the near past to the present, with the largest changes at the stratopause and at the South Pole in the lower stratosphere, in agreement with current knowledge of temperature trends. In the Arctic lower stratosphere, a cooling in March with respect to the 1960 simulation is found only for the 2000 simulation. Wave activity emerging from the troposphere is found to be comparable in the winters of the 1960 and 2000 simulations, suggesting that ozone depletion and greenhouse gases increase contribute to the 2000 - 1960 March cooling in the Arctic lower stratosphere. These results therefore provide support to the interpretation that the extreme low temperatures observed in March in the last decade can arise from radiative and chemical processes, although other factors cannot be ruled out. The comparison of the 1960 and 2000 simulations shows an increase in downwelling in the mesosphere at the time of cooling in the lower stratosphere ( in March in the Arctic; in October in the Antarctic). The mesospheric increase in downwelling can be explained as the response of the gravity waves to the stronger winds associated with the cooling in the lower stratosphere. Planetary waves appear to contribute to the downward shift of the increased downwelling, with a delay of about a month. The increase in dynamical heating associated with the increased downwelling may limit the cooling and the strengthening of the lower stratospheric polar vortex from above, facilitating ozone recovery and providing a negative dynamical feedback. In both the Arctic and Antarctic the cooling from ozone depletion is found to affect the area covered with polar stratospheric clouds in spring, which is substantially increased from the 1960 to the 2000 simulations. In turn, increased amounts of polar stratospheric clouds can facilitate further ozone depletion in the 2000 simulation

We call attention to the great importance of the gas phase reaction ClO + CH3O2 → ClOO + CH3O and the heterogeneous reaction HCl + HOCl → Cl2 + H2O on polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) particles. These reactions may accomplish the almost complete conversion of HCl into ClOx radicals, thus leading to rapid destruction of ozone.