- 1College of Ocean and Meteorology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China
- 2School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- 3School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- 4National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Geomagnetic storms can lead to energetic particle precipitation (EPP), which increase ionization levels in the atmosphere, enhancing NOx/HOx concentrations, thus destroying ozone in the polar mesosphere and stratosphere. There has been many studies to study the impact of solar proton on ozone, but the contributions of solar proton and energetic electron precipitation under different space weather especially geomagnetic storms events to the changes in middle/upper atmospheric in different seasons are not well quantified. It is also important to study long term changes in ozone due to solar activities including geomagnetic storms to understand how they affect global climate and atmospheric chemical processes.
In this work, we have carried out long term simulations (1980-2019) using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), with detailed D-region (60-90 km) chemistry. The model uses a specific-dynamic version with nudging of Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) reanalysis. First, we have made comprehensive model validations using various satellite measurements, which shows the model with detailed D region ion-nuetral chemistry has better performance in reproducing some key neutral chemical species (e.g., NOx, HOx, HNO3 etc) affected by EPP. In order to highlight how different geomagnetic storms events (strong or quite conditions) affected stratospheric ozone in different seasons, we use a composite analysis method. Interestingly, The ozone loss is more noticeable in summer than in winter. Surprisingly, ozone changes usually become more noticeable after one month. To investigate the impact of medium energy electron (MEE, 30-1000 keV) precipitation on the middle and upper atmosphere, several model sensitivity experiments have been made. Results shows MEE has a significant impact in the mesosphere with small contribution to stratosphere ozone depletion (2-5% in the Antarctic winter).
How to cite: Chang, S., Chen, Z., M.C.Plane, J., P.Chipperfield, M., R.Marsh, D., Feng, W., and Zhang, Y.: The Impact of Geomagnetic Storms on Antarctic Stratospheric Ozone: Modelling Study Based on the WACCM-D , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11190, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11190, 2025.
