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At least 235 records · Page 13

The Transition of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Total Ozone Products to Operations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (NASA SPoRT) has transitioned a total column ozone product from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) retrievals to the Weather Prediction Center and Ocean Prediction Center. The total column ozone product is used to diagnose regions of warm, dry, ozone-rich, stratospheric air capable of descending to the surface to create high-impact non-convective winds. Over the past year, forecasters have analyzed the Red, Green, Blue (RGB) Air Mass imagery in conjunction with the AIRS total column ozone to aid high wind forecasts. One of the limitations of the total ozone product is that it is difficult for forecasters to determine whether elevated ozone concentrations are related to stratospheric air or climatologically high values of ozone in certain regions. During the summer of 2013, SPoRT created an AIRS ozone anomaly product which calculates the percent of normal ozone based on a global stratospheric ozone mean climatology. With the knowledge that ozone values 125 percent of normal and greater typically represent stratospheric air; the anomaly product can be used with the total column ozone product to confirm regions of stratospheric air. This paper describes the generation of these products along with forecaster feedback concerning the use of the AIRS ozone products in conjunction with the RGB Air Mass product to access the utility and transition of the products.

Berndt, Emily↗

Trends in Global Tropospheric Ozone Inferred from a Composite Record of TOMS/OMI/MLS/OMPS Satellite Measurements and the MERRA-2 GMI Simulation

Past studies have suggested that ozone in the troposphere has increased globally throughout much of the 20th century due to increases in anthropogenic emissions and transport. We show, by combining satellite measurements with a chemical transport model, that during the last four decades tropospheric ozone does indeed indicate increases that are global in nature, yet still highly regional. Satellite ozone measurements from Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) are merged with ozone measurements from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument/Microwave Limb Sounder (OMI/MLS) to determine trends in tropospheric ozone for 1979–2016. Both TOMS (1979–2005) and OMI/MLS (2005–2016) depict large increases in tropospheric ozone from the Near East to India and East Asia and further eastward over the Pacific Ocean. The 38-year merged satellite record shows total net change over this region of about +6 to +7 Dobson units (DU) (i.e., ∼15 %–20 % of average background ozone), with the largest increase (∼4 DU) occurring during the 2005–2016 Aura period. The Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) chemical transport model with time-varying emissions is used to aid in the interpretation of tropospheric ozone trends for 1980–2016. The GMI simulation for the combined record also depicts the greatest increases of +6 to +7 DU over India and East Asia, very similar to the satellite measurements. In regions of significant increases in tropospheric column ozone (TCO) the trends are a factor of 2–2.5 larger for the Aura record when compared to the earlier TOMS record; for India and East Asia the trends in TCO for both GMI and satellite measurements are ∼+3 DU decade(exp −1) or greater during 2005–2016 compared to about +1.2 to +1.4 DU decade(exp −1) for 1979–2005. The GMI simulation and satellite data also reveal a tropospheric ozone increases in ∼+4 to +5 DU for the 38-year record over central Africa and the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Both the GMI simulation and satellite-measured tropospheric ozone during the latter Aura time period show increases of ∼+3 DU decade−1 over the N Atlantic and NE Pacific.

Ziemke, Jerald R.↗

Analysis of Atmospheric Conditions Responsible for an Ozone Exceedance Event in Southeast Virginia on June 15, 2022

On June 15, 2022, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality monitoring site at Suffolk/Holland, a rural site in southeast Virginia, recorded its first ozone exceedance since 2016. An ozone exceedance day occurs when the daily maximum 8-hour average surface ozone concentration is greater than 70 ppb. On this day, it was 75 ppb. This event is also noteworthy due to the rapid increase in surface ozone between 6 am and 9 am EDT as well as the hourly maximum ozone concentration of 82 ppb that was measured at 1 pm EDT. In this analysis, we utilize various observational and model data to determine the atmospheric conditions responsible for this ozone exceedance event. The analysis is conducted in two parts: (1) an evaluation of the accuracy of the GEOS-CF and WRF-Chem model forecasts and (2) an investigation of the mechanisms responsible for the high surface ozone at the Virginia DEQ Suffolk/Holland monitoring site. Comparisons of model forecasted ozone time-height cross sections with measured ozone by lidars from the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) at NASA Langley and NASA Goddard reveal that both models forecasted ozone reasonably well near the surface. Model and observational data reveal that an upper-level ridge was present over much of the eastern United States, with a broad anticyclonic circulation near the surface, resulting in north-northeasterly flow over southeast Virginia. Back trajectory calculations using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT) and model data suggest that a low-level plume rich in ozone and precursor species originating from the New York City and New Jersey region was transported along the east coast between June 14 and June 15, arriving in southeast Virginia around 6 am EDT on June 15. In the early morning hours, this plume mixed down to the surface, elevating the background ozone mixing ratio as well as the mixing ratios of several precursor species. Other potential contributions are also explored and discussed. Lastly, the authors note that this work represents the analysis of the authors and not the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Daniel B Phoenix↗

Quantifying contributions of ozone changes to global and arctic warming during the second half of the twentieth century

Ozone is the third most important greenhouse gas in driving global warming, mainly due to increased tropospheric ozone. About 50% of the growth of global tropospheric ozone since preindustrial time occurred during 1955–2005, with continued growth since then. Furthermore, this study quantifies the relative contributions of ozone changes during 1955–2005 to total observed global and Arctic climate changes by comparing CESM1 historical simulations with all anthropogenic and natural radiative forcings including realistic ozone changes, and with the same forcings except with constant ozone or well-mixed greenhouse gases (WMGHG). Results indicate that ozone changes during 1955–2005 have strongly enhanced the downwelling longwave flux and increased net shortwave flux at the surface, and thus significantly contributed about 0.15 °C of global mean surface warming, roughly 21%, 26% and 16% of the observed, all-forcing and WMGHG-driven trends, respectively. In the Arctic in the same period, corresponding ozone-driven warming was about 0.63 °C, roughly 48%, 40% and 25% of the same three trends. During 1979–2005, these ozone changes have markedly added about 0.25 × 10 6 km 2 to the decrease in the Arctic sea ice extent (SIE), or roughly 25%, 48%, and 40% of the same three trends. Considering that the ozone-driven radiative forcing of about 0.22 (0.06) W·m –2 in 1955–2005 (1979–2005) was about 12% (6%) of the corresponding WMGHG forcing, ozone changes had contributed disproportionately to global and Arctic warming and Arctic sea ice decline during the second half of the twentieth century. Tropospheric ozone has shown relatively steady growth since 2006 and might have significantly contributed recent observed warming over the global and the Arctic.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

The contribution of the neuroendocrine system to adaption after repeated daily ozone exposure in rats

Ozone-induced lung injury/inflammation dissipates despite continued exposure for 3 or more days; however, the mechanisms of adaptation/habituation remain unclear. Since ozone effects are mediated through adrenal-derived stress hormones, which also regulate longevity of centrally-mediated stress response, we hypothesized that ozone-adaptation is linked to diminution of neuroendocrine stress-axes activation and glucocorticoid levels. Male Wistar-Kyoto-rats (12-week-old) were injected with vehicle or a therapeutically-relevant dexamethasone dose (0.01-mg/kg/day; intraperitoneal) for 1-month to determine if suppression of glucocorticoid signaling was linked to adaptation. Vehicle- and dexamethasone-treated rats were exposed to air or 0.8-ppm ozone, 4 h/day × 2 or 4 days to assess the impacts of acute exposure and adaptation, respectively. Dexamethasone reduced thymus and spleen weights, circulating lymphocytes, corticosterone and increased insulin. Ozone increased lavage-fluid protein and neutrophils and decreased circulating lymphocytes at day-2 but not day-4. Ozone-induced hyperglycemia, glucose intolerance and inhibition of beta-cell insulin release occurred at day-1 but not day-3. Ozone depleted circulating prolactin, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing-hormone at day-2 but not day-4, suggesting central mediation of adaptation. Adrenal epinephrine biosynthesis gene, Pnmt, was up-regulated after ozone exposure at both timepoints. However, genes involved in glucocorticoid biosynthesis were up-regulated after day-2 but not day-4, suggesting that acute 1- or 2-day ozone-mediated glucocorticoid increase elicits feedback inhibition to dampen hypothalamic stimulation of ACTH release in response to repeated subsequent ozone exposures. Although dexamethasone pretreatment affected circulating insulin, lymphocytes and adrenal genes, it had modest effect on ozone adaptation. In conclusion, ozone adaptation likely involves lack of hypothalamic response due to reduced availability of circulating glucocorticoids.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Disentangling the mechanism of temperature and water vapor modulation on ozone under a warming climate

Temperature and water vapor have been considered as important factors affecting ozone concentrations, however, their synergistic effect on ozone, as well as its response to a warming climate remains unclear. Here, numerical experiments with different combinations of climate and emissions highlighted opposite changes of annual ozone over the contiguous U.S. under scenarios with high vs. low ozone precursor emissions in the future with warming. Comparing the occurrence of heat waves on higher vs. lower ozone days, we found significant suppression of the heat wave exacerbation of ozone by anthropogenic emissions reductions. Variations of ozone with temperature (T) and water vapor (Q) over the western U.S. and southeastern U.S. in the simulations are clearly revealed through the construction of an O 3 -T-Q diagram. Based on the diagram, we further identified a T-dominant regime at higher temperatures where ozone increases with temperature increase, and a Q-dominant regime at lower temperatures where ozone decreases with temperature increase due to the negative effect of water vapor. With larger anthropogenic emission reductions, ozone may increase at a lower rate with temperature in the T-dominant regime, or even decrease with temperature in the Q-dominant regime. Our results show that with large emission reductions, substantial ozone pollution due to warming and increasing heat waves may be counteracted by water vapor, partly turning the ‘climate penalty’ on ozone into ‘climate benefit’. Hence controlling anthropogenic emissions may be an increasingly important strategy in a warmer and wetter climate to improve air quality and public health.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Impact of Surface Emissions to the Zonal Variability of Tropical Tropospheric Ozone and Carbon Monoxide for November 2004

The chemical and dynamical processes governing the zonal variability of tropical tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide are investigated for November 2004 using satellite observations, in-situ measurements, and chemical transport models in conjunction with inverse-estimated surface emissions. Vertical ozone profile estimates from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and ozone sonde measurements from the Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) network show the so called zonal 'wave-one' pattern, which is characterized by peak ozone concentrations (70-80 ppb) centered over the Atlantic, as well as elevated concentrations of ozone over Indonesia and Australia (60-70 ppb) in the lower troposphere. Observational evidence from TES CO vertical profiles and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) NO2 columns point to regional surface emissions as an important contributor to the elevated ozone over Indonesia. This contribution is investigated with the GEOS-Chem chemistry and transport model using surface emission estimates derived from an optimal inverse model, which was constrained by TES and Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) CO profiles (Jones et al., 2007). These a posteriori estimates, which were over a factor of 2 greater than climatological emissions, reduced differences between GEOS-Chem and TES ozone observations by 30-40% and led to changes in GEOS-Chem upper tropospheric ozone of up to 40% over Indonesia. The remaining residual differences can be explained in part by upper tropospheric ozone produced from lightning NOx in the South Atlantic. Furthermore, model simulations from GEOS-Chem indicate that ozone over Indonesian/Australian is more sensitive to changes in surface emissions of NOx than ozone over the tropical Atlantic.

tropical tropospheric ozone↗

A New Differential Absorption Lidar to Measure Sub-Hourly Fluctuation of Tropospheric Ozone Profiles in the Baltimore - Washington D.C. Region

Tropospheric ozone profiles have been retrieved from the new ground based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center TROPospheric OZone DIfferential Absorption Lidar (GSFC TROPOZ DIAL) in Greenbelt, MD (38.99 N, 76.84 W, 57 meters ASL) from 400 m to 12 km AGL. Current atmospheric satellite instruments cannot peer through the optically thick stratospheric ozone layer to remotely sense boundary layer tropospheric ozone. In order to monitor this lower ozone more effectively, the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) has been developed, which currently consists of five stations across the US. The GSFC TROPOZ DIAL is based on the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique, which currently detects two wavelengths, 289 and 299 nm. Ozone is absorbed more strongly at 289 nm than at 299 nm. The DIAL technique exploits this difference between the returned backscatter signals to obtain the ozone number density as a function of altitude. The transmitted wavelengths are generated by focusing the output of a quadrupled Nd:YAG laser beam (266 nm) into a pair of Raman cells, filled with high pressure hydrogen and deuterium. Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) within the focus generates a significant fraction of the pump energy at the first Stokes shift. With the knowledge of the ozone absorption coefficient at these two wavelengths, the range resolved number density can be derived. An interesting atmospheric case study involving the Stratospheric-Tropospheric Exchange (STE) of ozone is shown to emphasize the regional importance of this instrument as well as assessing the validation and calibration of data. The retrieval yields an uncertainty of 16-19 percent from 0-1.5 km, 10-18 percent from 1.5-3 km, and 11-25 percent from 3 km to 12 km. There are currently surface ozone measurements hourly and ozonesonde launches occasionally, but this system will be the first to make routine tropospheric ozone profile measurements in the Baltimore-Washington DC area.

Stimulated Raman Scattering↗

Tropospheric Ozone Changes, Radiative Forcing and Attribution to Emissions in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP)

Ozone (O3) from 17 atmospheric chemistry models taking part in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) has been used to calculate tropospheric ozone radiative forcings (RFs). All models applied a common set of anthropogenic emissions, which are better constrained for the present-day than the past. Future anthropogenic emissions follow the four Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios, which define a relatively narrow range of possible air pollution emissions. We calculate a value for the pre-industrial (1750) to present-day (2010) tropospheric ozone RF of 410 mW m−2. The model range of pre-industrial to present-day changes in O3 produces a spread (+/-1 standard deviation) in RFs of +/-17%. Three different radiation schemes were used - we find differences in RFs between schemes (for the same ozone fields) of +/-10 percent. Applying two different tropopause definitions gives differences in RFs of +/-3 percent. Given additional (unquantified) uncertainties associated with emissions, climate-chemistry interactions and land-use change, we estimate an overall uncertainty of +/-30 percent for the tropospheric ozone RF. Experiments carried out by a subset of six models attribute tropospheric ozone RF to increased emissions of methane (44+/-12 percent), nitrogen oxides (31 +/- 9 percent), carbon monoxide (15 +/- 3 percent) and non-methane volatile organic compounds (9 +/- 2 percent); earlier studies attributed more of the tropospheric ozone RF to methane and less to nitrogen oxides. Normalising RFs to changes in tropospheric column ozone, we find a global mean normalised RF of 42 mW m(−2) DU(−1), a value similar to previous work. Using normalised RFs and future tropospheric column ozone projections we calculate future tropospheric ozone RFs (mW m(−2); relative to 1750) for the four future scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5) of 350, 420, 370 and 460 (in 2030), and 200, 300, 280 and 600 (in 2100). Models show some coherent responses of ozone to climate change: decreases in the tropical lower troposphere, associated with increases in water vapour; and increases in the sub-tropical to mid-latitude upper troposphere, associated with increases in lightning and stratosphere-to-troposphere transport. Climate change has relatively small impacts on global mean tropospheric ozone RF.

climate change↗

Past Changes in the Vertical Distribution of Ozone Part 1: Measurement Techniques, Uncertainties and Availability

Peak stratospheric chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and other ozone depleting substance (ODS) concentrations were reached in the mid- to late 1990s. Detection and attribution of the expected recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer in an atmosphere with reduced ODSs as well as efforts to understand the evolution of stratospheric ozone in the presence of increasing greenhouse gases are key current research topics. These require a critical examination of the ozone changes with an accurate knowledge of the spatial (geographical and vertical) and temporal ozone response. For such an examination, it is vital that the quality of the measurements used be as high as possible and measurement uncertainties well quantified. In preparation for the 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, the SPARC/IO3C/IGACO-O3/NDACC (SI2N) Initiative was designed to study and document changes in the global ozone profile distribution. This requires assessing long-term ozone profile data sets in regards to measurement stability and uncertainty characteristics. The ultimate goal is to establish suitability for estimating long-term ozone trends to contribute to ozone recovery studies. Some of the data sets have been improved as part of this initiative with updated versions now available. This summary presents an overview of stratospheric ozone profile measurement data sets (ground and satellite based) available for ozone recovery studies. Here we document measurement techniques, spatial and temporal coverage, vertical resolution, native units and measurement uncertainties. In addition, the latest data versions are briefly described (including data version updates as well as detailing multiple retrievals when available for a given satellite instrument). Archive location information for each data set is also given.

stratospheric ozone layer measurement↗

Evaluation of the Ozone Fields in NASA's MERRA-2 Reanalysis

The assimilated ozone product from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2), produced at NASAs Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) is summarized. The reanalysis begins in 1980 with the use of retrieved partial-column ozone concentrations from a series of Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV) instruments on NASA and NOAA spacecraft. Beginning in October 2004, retrieved ozone profiles from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and total column ozone from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASAs EOS Aura satellite are assimilated. While this change in data streams does lead to a discontinuity in the assimilated ozone fields in MERRA-2, making it not useful for studies in decadal (secular) trends in ozone, this choice was made to prioritize demonstrating the value NASAs high-quality research data in the reanalysis context. The MERRA-2 ozone is compared with independent satellite and ozonesonde data, focusing on the representation of the spatial and temporal variability of stratospheric and upper-tropospheric ozone. The comparisons show agreement within 10 (standard deviation of the difference) between MERRA-2 profiles and independent satellite data in most of the stratosphere. The agreement improves after 2004, when EOS Aura data are assimilated. The standard deviation of the differences between the lower-stratospheric and upper-tropospheric MERRA-2 ozone and ozonesondes is 11.2 and 24.5, respectively, with correlations of 0.8 and above. This is indicative of a realistic representation of the UTLS ozone variability in MERRA-2. After 2004, the upper tropospheric ozone in MERRA-2 shows a low bias compared to the sondes, but the covariance with independent observations is improved compared to earlier years. Case studies demonstrate the integrity of MERRA-2 analyses in representing important features such as tropopause folds.

Ozone↗

Global Changes in the Diurnal Cycle of Surface Ozone

Changing emissions of NOx and other ozone precursors drive trends in both production and loss of surface ozone, leading to surface ozone trends that differ according to the time of day. Consequently, the magnitude of the diurnal cycle in surface ozone is changing in several regions of the world. Changes in the diurnal cycle of ozone have implications for the metrics used to assess the impact of ozone on human health and vegetation, since different metrics are sensitive to different portions of the diurnal cycle. We use a high resolution model simulation to examine global changes in the magnitude of the diurnal cycle of O3 between 1980 and 2015. The simulation reproduces the negative trends in the tropospheric NO2 column over the eastern United States and Europe, and the positive trends over East Asia, seen by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). It also gives a reasonable reproduction of the change in the diurnal cycle of surface ozone seen at rural sites in the eastern United States between the 1990s and 2000s. The simulation shows that the magnitude of the surface O3 diurnal cycle is increasing in regions with positive changes in NOx emissions, such as South and East Asia, and decreasing in regions with reductions in NOx emissions. It also shows changes in the diurnal cycle of the tropospheric ozone column, although these have fewer regions with statistically significant trends. These changes suggest that daily mean ozone is responding less than the mid-day ozone measured by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and OMI.

Trends↗

Global-scale distribution of ozone in the remote troposphere from ATom and HIPPO airborne field missions

Ozone is a key constituent of the troposphere, where it drives photochemical processes, impacts air quality, and acts as a climate forcer. Large-scale in situ observations of ozone commensurate with the grid resolution of current Earth system models are necessary to validate model outputs and satellite retrievals. In this paper, we examine measurements from the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom; four deployments in 2016–2018) and the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO; five deployments in 2009–2011) experiments, two global-scale airborne campaigns covering the Pacific and Atlantic basins. ATom and HIPPO represent the first global-scale, vertically resolved measurements of O3 distributions throughout the troposphere, with HIPPO sampling the atmosphere over the Pacific and ATom sampling both the Pacific and Atlantic. Given the relatively limited temporal resolution of these two campaigns, we first compare ATom and HIPPO ozone data to longer-term observational records to establish the representativeness of our dataset. We show that these two airborne campaigns captured on average 53 %, 54 %, and 38 % of the ozone variability in the marine boundary layer, free troposphere, and upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS), respectively, at nine well-established ozonesonde sites. Additionally, ATom captured the most frequent ozone concentrations measured by regular commercial aircraft flights in the northern Atlantic UTLS. We then use the repeated vertical profiles from these two campaigns to confirm and extend the existing knowledge of tropospheric ozone spatial and vertical distributions throughout the remote troposphere. We highlight a clear hemispheric gradient, with greater ozone in the Northern Hemisphere, consistent with greater precursor emissions and consistent with previous modeling and satellite studies. We also show that the ozone distribution below 8 km was similar in the extra-tropics of the Atlantic and Pacific basins, likely due to zonal circulation patterns. However, twice as much ozone was found in the tropical Atlantic as in the tropical Pacific, due to well-documented dynamical patterns transporting continental air masses over the Atlantic. Finally, we show that the seasonal variability of tropospheric ozone over the Pacific and the Atlantic basins is driven year-round by transported continental plumes and photochemistry, and the vertical distribution is driven by photochemistry and mixing with stratospheric air. This new dataset provides additional constraints for global climate and chemistry models to improve our understanding of both ozone production and loss processes in remote regions, as well as the influence of anthropogenic emissions on baseline ozone.

ATom, aircraft profiles, Atlantic pollution, ozone↗

Combined UV and IR Ozone Profile Retrieval from TROPOMI and CrIS Measurements

Vertical ozone profiles from combined spectral measurements in the ultraviolet and infrared spectral range were retrieved by using data from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument on the Sentinel-5 Precursor (TROPOMI/S5P) and the Cross-track Infrared Sounder on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (CrIS/Suomi-NPP), which are flying in loose formation 3 min apart in the same orbit. A previous study of ozone profiles retrieved exclusively from TROPOMI UV spectra showed that the vertical resolution in the troposphere is clearly limited (Mettig et al., 2021). The vertical resolution and the vertical extent of the ozone profiles is improved by combining both wavelength ranges compared to retrievals limited to UV or IR spectral data only. The combined retrieval particularly improves the accuracy of the retrieved tropospheric ozone and to a lesser degree stratospheric ozone up to 30 km. An increase in the degrees of freedom (DOF) by 1 DOF was found in the UV + IR retrieval compared to the UV-only retrieval. Compared to previous publications, which investigated combinations of UV and IR observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument and Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (OMI and TES) and Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment version 2 and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (GOME-2 and IASI) pairs, the degree of freedom is lower, which is attributed to the reduced spectral resolution of CrIS compared to TES or IASI. Tropospheric lidar and ozonesondes were used to validate the ozone profiles and tropospheric ozone content (TOC). In their comparison with tropospheric lidars, both ozone profiles and TOCs show smaller biases for the retrieved data from the combined UV + IR observation than from the UV observations alone. For the ozone profiles below 10 km, the mean differences are around ±10 % and the mean TOC varies around ±3 DU. We show that TOCs from the combined retrieval agree better with ozonesonde results at northern latitudes than the UV-only and IR-only retrievals and also have lower scatter. In the tropics, the IR-only retrieval shows the best agrement with TOCs derived from ozonesondes. While in general the TOCs show good agreement with ozonesonde data, the profiles have a positive bias of around 30 % between 10 and 15 km. The reason is probably a positive stratospheric bias from the IR retrieval. The comparison of the UV + IR and UV ozone profiles up to 30 km with the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) demonstrates the improvement of the UV + IR profile in the stratosphere above 18 km. In comparison to the UV-only approach the retrieval shows improvements of up to 10 % depending on latitude but can also show worse results in some regions and latitudes.

Ozone↗

Long-term Ozone Changes and Associated Climate Impacts in CMIP5 Simulations

Ozone changes and associated climate impacts in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations are analyzed over the historical (1960-2005) and future (2006-2100) period under four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). In contrast to CMIP3, where half of the models prescribed constant stratospheric ozone, CMIP5 models all consider past ozone depletion and future ozone recovery. Multimodel mean climatologies and long-term changes in total and tropospheric column ozone calculated from CMIP5 models with either interactive or prescribed ozone are in reasonable agreement with observations. However, some large deviations from observations exist for individual models with interactive chemistry, and these models are excluded in the projections. Stratospheric ozone projections forced with a single halogen, but four greenhouse gas (GHG) scenarios show largest differences in the northern midlatitudes and in the Arctic in spring (approximately 20 and 40 Dobson units (DU) by 2100, respectively). By 2050, these differences are much smaller and negligible over Antarctica in austral spring. Differences in future tropospheric column ozone are mainly caused by differences in methane concentrations and stratospheric input, leading to approximately 10DU increases compared to 2000 in RCP 8.5. Large variations in stratospheric ozone particularly in CMIP5 models with interactive chemistry drive correspondingly large variations in lower stratospheric temperature trends. The results also illustrate that future Southern Hemisphere summertime circulation changes are controlled by both the ozone recovery rate and the rate of GHG increases, emphasizing the importance of simulating and taking into account ozone forcings when examining future climate projections.

tropospheric ozone↗

Analysis of the breakdown of the Antarctic circumpolar vortex using TOMS ozone data

Climatological analysis of data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on the Nimbus 7 satellite has shown that the annual cycles of ozone are very different in the Arctic and Antarctic. The annual cycle in the Arctic is a relatively smooth annual sine wave; but in the Antarctic the circumpolar vortex breaks down rapidly during the Southern Hemisphere spring (September through November), producing a rapid rise in total ozone and a sawtooth-shaped annual cycle. The evolution of the Antarctic total ozone field during the vortex breakdown was studied by computing areally-integrated ozone amounts from the TOMS data. This technique avoids substantial difficulties with using zonally-averaged ozone amounts to study the asymmetric breakdown phenomenon. Variability of total ozone is found to be large both within an individual year and between different years. During the last decade monthly-mean total ozone values in the Antarctic during the springtime vortex breakdown period have decreased dramatically. The ozone-area statistics indicate that the decrease has resulted in part from changes in the timing of the vortex breakdown and resultant ozone increase, which have occurred later during recent years. Analysis of the spatial scales involved in the ozone transport and mixing that occur during the vortex breakdown is now underway. Reliable calculation of diagnostic quantities like areally-integrated ozone is possible only with the high-resolution, two-dimensional, daily coverage provided by the TOMS instrument.

Bowman, Kenneth P.↗

Results of ozone measurements in Northern Germany: A case study

At most of the German ozone recording stations which have records over a sufficiently long period, the results of the summer months of 1989 showed the highest values since the beginning of the measurements. One of the reasons for this phenomenon was the high duration of sunshine in that summer; for example, in Potsdam near Berlin in May 1989 the sunshine duration was the highest in May since the beginning of the records in 1893. For that reason we selected this summer for a case study. The basis for the study was mainly the ozone measuring stations of the network of Lower Saxony and the Federal Office of Environment (Umweltbundesamt). The results of these summer measurements point to intense sources of ozone, probably in form of gaseous precursors, in the Middle German industrial areas near Leipzig and Halle and in Northwestern Czechoslovakia, with coal-mining, chemical and petrochemical industries, coking plants and others. The maps of average ozone concentrations, number or days with high ozone maxima, ozone-windroses of the stations, etc., suggest that these areas could be a main source of precursors and of photochemical ozone production in summer smog episodes in Central Europe. Stations on the North Sea coast, at which early ozone measurements were made by our institute in 1973/74 are compared with similarly located stations of the Lower Saxon network in 1989 and the results show a reversal of the ozone-windroses. In 1973/74, the highest ozone concentrations were correlated with wind directions from the sea while in 1989 these concentrations were correlated with directions from the continent. In the recent years, photochemical ozone production on the continent is probably predominant, while in former years the higher ozone content of the maritime subpolar air masses has been explained by stratospheric-tropospheric exchange.

Schmidt, Manfred↗

The latitudinal distribution of ozone to 35 km altitude from ECC ozonesonde observations, 1982-1990

Electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozone-sonde observations, made in recent years at ten stations whose locations range from the Arctic to Antarctica, have yielded a self-consistent ozone data base from which mean seasonal and annual latitudinal ozone vertical distributions to 35 km have been derived. Ozone measurement uncertainties are estimated, and results are presented in the Bass-Paur (1985) ozone absorption coefficient scale adopted for use with Dobson ozone spectrophotometers January 1, 1992. The data should be useful for comparison with model calculations of the global distribution of atmospheric ozone, for serving as apriori statistical information in deriving ozone vertical distributions from satellite and Umkehr observations, and for improving the satellite and Umkehr ozone inversion algorithms. Attention is drawn to similar results based on a less comprehensive data set published in Ozone in the Atmosphere, Proceedings of the 1988 Quadrennial Ozone Symposium where errors in data tabulations occurred for three of the stations due to inadvertent transposition of ozone partial pressure and air temperature values.

Komhyr, W. D.↗