Abstract
Abstract. The Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) instrument
operated from 25 October 1978 through 28 May 1979. This note focuses on
its Version 6 (V6) data and indications of ozone loss in the lower
stratosphere of the Southern Hemisphere subpolar region during the last
week of October 1978. We provide profiles and maps that show V6 ozone values
of only 2 to 3 ppmv at 46 hPa within the edge of the polar vortex near
60∘ S from late October through mid-November 1978. There are also
low values of V6 nitric acid (∼3 to 6 ppbv) and nitrogen
dioxide (< 1 ppbv) at the same locations, indicating that conditions
were suitable for a chemical loss of Antarctic ozone some weeks earlier.
These “first light” LIMS observations provide the earliest space-based
view of conditions within the lower stratospheric ozone layer of the
southern polar region in springtime.