Polar stratospheric clouds in the 1998–2003 Antarctic vortex: Microphysical modeling and Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) III observations

The Integrated Microphysics and Aerosol Chemistry on Trajectories (IMPACT) model is used to study polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) formation and evolution in the Antarctic vortex. The model is applied to individual air parcel trajectories driven by UK Met Office (UKMO) wind and temperature fields. The IMPACT model calculates the parcel microphysics, including the formation and sedimentation of ice, nitric acid trihydrate (NAT), sulfuric acid tetrahydrate (SAT), and supercooled ternary solution (STS) aerosols. Model results are validated by comparison with data obtained by the Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) III solar occultation instrument and are examined for 6 years of POAM data (1998–2003). Comparisons of POAM water vapor and aerosol extinction measurements to the model results help to constrain three microphysical parameters influencing the formation and growth of both type I and type II PSCs. Principally, measurements of aerosol extinction prove to be valuable in differentiating model runs; the relationship of aerosol extinction to temperature is determined by the various particle types as they form and grow. Comparison of IMPACT calculations of this relationship to POAM measurements suggests that the initial fraction of nuclei available for heterogeneous NAT freezing is approximately 0.02% of all aerosols. Constraints are also placed on the accommodation coefficient of ice and the NAT-ice lattice compatibility. However, these two parameters have similar effects on the extinction-temperature relationship, and thus a range of values are permissible for each.