Demonstration of a physical inversion scheme for all-sky, day-night IASI observations and application to the analysis of the onset of the Antarctica ozone hole: Assessment of retrievals and consistency of forward modeling

Based on a recently developed all-sky forward model (σ-IASI/F2N) for the computation of spectral radiances in the range 100 to 2760 cm^-1, the paper addresses the spring onset of the Antarctica ozone hole with infrared observations from the IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer) satellite sounder. The Antarctica ozone hole is a cyclic event that grows in normal conditions in late August and collapses in late November/early December. Because of climate change (cooling of the stratosphere), the O₃ hole is expected to become deeper. Indeed, 2021 and 2023 have been characterized by very spatially extensive and deep ozone hole. To demonstrate that we can gain further insights into these phenomena with the help of infrared nadir viewing observations, we have developed an all-sky retrieval tool, which inverts the whole IASI infrared spectrum to simultaneously estimate thermodynamic and geophysical parameters, including ozone and nitric acid, which are key parameters in analyzing the Antarctic ozone hole. Infrared sounders acquire data day and night, unlike visible and ultraviolet sounders, which are only operational during daytime. This enables us to acquire data also during the polar night, which is a critical time for O₃ hole formation. Ice polar stratospheric clouds have been identified and fitted with our scheme. Maps of atmospheric ozone, complemented with those of nitric acid, temperature, and lower stratosphere height, have been retrieved for July, September, and October 2021 and 2023. Results are compared to those derived from TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument), showing a very good agreement. The comparison of simultaneously retrieved O₃ and HNO₃ shows that the onset of the ozone hole is associated with relevant denitrification in the Antarctica Stratosphere. For 2023, our findings also show that O₃ depletion episodes began as early as July. Although demonstrative, our analysis evidences the importance of Numerical Weather Prediction centers to assimilating all-sky infrared radiances (day, night, clear, or with ice or water clouds) to get insights into providing a more comprehensive picture of the Southern Spring ozone depletion over Antarctica.