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Considering the representation of the atmosphere, the current generation of Earth-System Models (ESMs) differs mainly in the representation of the stratospheric ozone layer and its variability and changes. So-called high-top models have a well resolved stratosphere and typically calculate ozone chemistry interactively, low-top models on the other hand rely on parameterized ozone chemistry or prescribed climatological ozone fields and have a model top below the stratopause. Here we investigate whether interactive ozone chemistry is important for representing temperature variability and extremes in the Arctic polar stratosphere. To this end we analyze a suite of two 200 year sensitivity simulations, one with interactive ozone chemistry and one without, performed with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model version 4 (WACCM4), a stratosphere-resolving version of the National Center for Atmospheric …