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At least 235 records · Page 13

Ozone measurements in Amazonia - Dry season versus wet season

Recent ozone measurements taken in the Amazonian rain forest environment during the wet season (April-May 1987) are described, revealling new aspects of the regional atmospheric chemistry. The measurements were part of the Amazon Boundary Layer Experiment (ABLE 2B) mission and utilized UV absorption as a measurement technique to obtain surface ozone data; 20 ozonesondes were launched in order to obtain vertical ozone profiles used to describe the upper troposphere and stratosphere. The major differences in comparison to a previous dry season experiment, which found ozone concentrations to be lower in the whole troposphere by nearly a factor of 2, are stressed.

Kirchhoff, V. W. J. H.↗

Stratospheric aerosol and gas experiment II and ROCOZ-A ozone profiles at Natal, Brazil - A basis for comparison with other satellite instruments

Satellite measurements of ozone carried out during the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) are compared with in situ measurements made by the ROCOZ-A and electrochemical concentration cell ozonesondes at Natal (Brazil) during the Southern Hemisphere autumn of 1985. It was found that the SAGE II values were higher than the ROCOZ-A values by 3.4 percent, with an average absolute difference of 3.8 percent. It is suggested that the differences between the ozone density and mixing ratio results are due to the auxiliary temperature and pressure values for the satellite and in situ instruments.

Barnes, Robert A.↗

Depletion of Arctic ozone in the winter 1990

Ozone mixing ratios were measured by ozonesondes on board balloons launched from Esrange, near Kiruna, Sweden (68 deg N, 20 deg E) from January 11 to February 9, 1990. The data obtained prior to a sudden warming on February 7, 1990 show that at potential temperatures between 460 and 640 K, the ozone mixing ratio just inside the polar vortex was systematically smaller than that outside, the largest difference being 29 percent at around 525 K. The ozone mixing ratio at 525 K inside the vortex decreased at a rate of about 1.5 percent per day between January 26 and February 4. The temperatures simultaneously observed were quite often low enough to allow for formation of nitric acid trihydrate particles around this altitude. Depletion of ozone due to highly perturbed chemical conditions in late January and early February is strongly suggested.

Koike, M.↗

Identification of widespread pollution in the Southern Hemisphere deduced from satellite analyses

Vertical profiles of ozone obtained from ozonesondes in Brazzaville (Congo) and Ascension Island show that large quantities of tropospheric ozone are present over southern Africa and the adjacent eastern tropical South Atlantic Ocean. The origin of this pollution is widespread biomass burning in Africa. These measurements support satellite-derived tropospheric ozone data that demonstrate that ozone originating from this region is transported throughout most of the Southern Hemisphere. Seasonally high levels of CO2 and methane observed at middle- and high-latitude stations in Africa, Australia, and Antarctica likely reflect the effects of this distant biomass burning. These data suggest that even the most remote regions on this planet may be significantly more polluted than previously believed.

Fishman, J.↗

Ground-based lidar measurements of stratospheric ozone. The NASA/GSFC stratospheric ozone lidar trailer experiment STROZ LITE

The major research objective is the measurement of high precision vertical profiles of ozone between 20-40 kilometers. The precision is such that the instrument should be capable of detecting a small trend (on the order of less that 1 percent per year) over a 5-10 year period. Temperature was measured between 30 and 365 km. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) mobile lidar was installed at Table Mountain and a comparison between it and the permanent Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) lidar was made over the course of about 3 weeks. The lidars agreed very well between 20 and 40 km, and under certain conditions up to 45-47 km. There were several anomalies that both lidars followed very well. Agreement with Rocket Ozonesonde (ROCOZ) and electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) sondes was also very good.

Mcgee, Thomas J.↗

Interpretation of DIAL Measurements of Lower Stratospheric Ozone in Regions with Pinatubo Aerosols

The influence of volcanic aerosols on stratospheric ozone is a topic of current interest, especially with the June 15, 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. Lidar has been used in the past to provide aerosol profiles which could be compared with ozone profiles measured using ozonesondes to look for coincidences between volcanic aerosols and ozone decreases. The differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique has the advantages of being able to measure ozone and aerosol profiles simultaneously as well as being able to cover large geographical regions rapidly. While there are problems associated with correcting the ozone profiles for the presence of aerosols, the corrections can be made reliably when the wavelengths are closely spaced and the Bernoulli method is applied. The DIAL measurements considered in this paper are those obtained in the tropical stratosphere in January 1992 during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE-II). The determination of ozone profiles in the presence of Pinatubo aerosols is discussed in a companion paper.

Grant, William B.↗

Observations of Ozone-aerosol Correlated Behaviour in the Lower Stratosphere During the EASOE Campaign

The question of possible interactions between ozone and stratospheric aerosol has been open for a long time. Measurements carried out after the Mt. Agung and El Chicon eruptions showed evidence of negative correlations between the presence of volcanic stratospheric aerosols and ozone concentration. Evidence for negative correlations in the polar winter has been also found. It is only after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole that catalytic effects related to low temperature heterogeneous chemistry have become the object of much investigation, now extended to the role of volcanic aerosol in the ozone reduction. These phenomena can be the object of various interpretations, not mutually exclusive, including the effect of transport, diffuse radiation as well as heterogeneous chemistry. The present paper provides preliminary results of simultaneous measurements of ozone and aerosol, carried out at Thule, Greenland, during the winter 1991-92. The European Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE) was aimed at monitoring the winter Arctic stratosphere in order to obtain a deeper insight of the ozone destruction processes taking place in the polar regions. A large amount of aerosol was injected into the lower stratosphere by the recent eruption of Volcano Pinatubo. A lidar system, already operational in Thule since November 1990, has provided detailed measurements of the stratospheric aerosol concentration during EASOE. In the same period, a large number of ozonesondes were launched. Although no PSC formation was detected over Thule, the simultaneous measurement of the stratospheric aerosol and ozone profiles give the possibility to study interactions occurring in the stratosphere between these two constituents.

Digirolamo, P.↗

Observations of reduced ozone concentrations in the tropical stratosphere after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

Two independent sets of data, one of aerosols from an airborne lidar system, and one of ozone from ozonesonde measurements indicate that significant ozone decreases may have happened as a result of the injection of debris by the Mt. Pinatubo volcano in June 1991. The amount of this reduction maximizes at 24-25 km, near the peak of the aerosol distribution, though a deficit is seen throughout the lower stratosphere between 19 and 28 km. The greatest differences observed prior and subsequent to the eruptions at these altitudes is 18-20 percent.

Grant, W. B.↗

Optical effects of polar stratospheric clouds on the retrieval of TOMS total ozone

Small areas of sharply reduced ozone density appear frequently in the maps produced from polar region total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) data. These mini-holes are of the order of 1000 km in extent with a lifetime of a few days. On the basis of measurements from ground-based instruments, balloon-borne ozonesondes, and simultaneous measurements of aerosol and ozone concentrations during aircraft flights in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, the appearance of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are frequently associated with false reductions in ozone derived from the TOMS albedo data. By combining radiative transfer calculations with the observed PSC and ozone data, it is shown that PSCs located near or above the ozone density maximum (with optical thickness greater than 0.1) can explain most of the differences between TOMS ozone data and ground or in situ ozone measurements. Several examples of real and false TOMS mini-hole phenomenon are investigated using data from the 1989 Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE) and from balloon flights over Norway and Sweden.

Torres, O.↗

Tropical ozone loss following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) measurements of equatorial total ozone following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo show a decrease of up to 6 percent over climatology. Ozone losses begin approximately a month following the eruption, consistent with the time required for the SO2 to convert to sulfuric acid aerosol. The thick aerosol layer interferes with the TOMS retrieval, but this interference is small and easily accounted for in the retrieval. Ozone values remain below climatology until December, 1991. Ozonesonde data from Natal, Brazil taken before and two months after the eruption support TOMS observations of ozone loss. These sondes show that the ozone loss region is confined to a 2-3 km thick layer between 24 and 28 km.

Schoeberl, Mark R.↗

Airborne lidar observations of ozone and aerosols in the wintertime Arctic stratosphere

The procedures used in making the lidar measurements of O3 and aerosols are discussed, and selected data samples of O3 and aerosol distributions observed during flights between Stavanger (59 deg N, 3 deg E) and the North Pole between about 40 deg W and 20 deg E meridians are presented. The 'on' and 'off'; laser wavelengths used for the DIAL measurements during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE) were 301.5 and 311 nm, respectively. An intercomparison between airborne DIAL and ozonesonde measurements of O3 in the vicinity of Bear Island is shown. The DIAL profiles were obtained by averaging the lidar returns over a 5-min period and then calculating the DIAL O3 profile. Lidar measurements at 603 and 1064 nm are used to infer physical characteristics of the different types of aerosols observed during the AASE.

Browell, Edward V.↗

Tropospheric ozone at 45 deg S

In August of 1986 a program was initiated to measure atmospheric ozone profiles at mid-latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere by flying ECC ozonesondes on a regular basis from the DSIR Physical Sciences Atmospheric Laboratory at Lauder, New Zealand, 45 deg S. Flights since that time have been performed on a regular basis at the rate of two flights per week during the 5 month period August to December, the time of maximum variability at mid-latitudes, and once per week for the remainder of the year. These data, consisting now of more than 400 profiles has been analyzed and the free troposphere portion of the profiles binned as 1km slabs. These data have been combined to form a seasonal average values for each season of each year in 2 km slabs and the variation observed in these seasonal averages is the basis of this paper. A biennial component is apparent in these data and the lack of any increasing trend over this 5 year period is contrasted with that measured at similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere over the same period.

Matthews, W. Andrew↗

Evaluation of the production and the destruction of ozone in the lower atmosphere

Observed surface ozone mixing ratio X(sub ob) is partitioned into two parts; X(sub tr), transported from the free troposphere and X(sub ch), chemically produced or destructed in the boundary layer. X(sub tr) is estimated from the ozone concentration in the free troposphere and the wind speed. The ozone in the free troposphere estimated from surface ozone observations is consistent with that of ozonesonde data. X(sub ch) is obtained from the difference between X(sub ob) and X(sub tr). X(sub tr) increases with wind speed, while X(sub ch) shows maximum at hourly wind speed of 1-2 m/s in the daytime. Contribution of X(sub tr) to X(sub ob) is larger than X(sub ch) except for a short period in summer. X(sub ch) is positive for April-October, but X(sub ch) can be negative in winter, showing the net chemical destruction in the boundary layer. X(sub ch) increases linearly with solar radiation, and is negative for daily global solar radiation below 8 MJ/sq m, which is about equal to the monthly mean in winter.

Muramatsu, H.↗

Long-term observed ozone trends in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere

The vertical distributions of ozone trends in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere were derived from ozonesonde observations taken over an average period of approximately 20 years. The results for the annual trends show a consistent pattern of increased ozone of approximately 1 percent/yr to 2 percent/yr up to approximately 300 mb and decreased ozone of approximately -0.6 percent/yr from approximately 100 to 50 mb. Statistically significant positive trends found in midtroposphere (approximately 500 mb) at a set of representative stations in the Northern Hemisphere have little apparent seasonal variation. Negative trends are generally strongest at 50-70 mb with a tendency to be larger during spring. A highly significant negative trend of approximately -5 percent/yr is found near 100 mb over Syowa (69 deg S) during spring.

London, Julius↗

TOMS total ozone data compared with northern latitude Dobson ground stations

Ozone measurements from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer on the Nimbus 7 satellite are compared with ground-based measurements from five Dobson stations at northern latitudes to evaluate the accuracy of the TOMS data, particularly in regions north of 50 deg N. The measurements from the individual stations show mean differences from -2.5 percent up to plus 8.3 percent relative to TOMS measurements and two of the ground stations, Oslo and Longyearbyen, show a significant drift of plus 1.2 percent and plus 3.7 percent per year, respectively. It can be shown from nearly simultaneous measurements in two different wavelength double pairs at Oslo that at least 2 percent of the differences result from the use of the CC' wavelength double pair instead of the standard AD wavelength double pair. Since all Norwegian stations used the CC' wavelength double pair exclusively a similar error can be assumed for Tromso and Longyearbyren. A comparison between the tropospheric ozone content in TOMS data and from ECC ozonesonde measurements at Ny-Alesund and Bear Island shows that the amount of tropospheric ozone in the standard profiles used in the TOMS algorithm is too low, which leads to an error of about 2 percent in total ozone. Particularly at high solar zenith angles (greater than 80 deg), Dobson measurements become unreliable. They are up to 20 percent lower than TOMS measurements averaged over solar zenith angles of 88 deg to 89 deg.

Heese, B.↗

Manifestation of quasi-biennial oscillation in ozone vertical distribution

The quasi-biennial oscillations (QBO) in ozone and temperature vertical distributions are studied on the basis of ozonesonde data of 21 stations. Maximum QBO amplitudes in ozone are noted in the 16-20 kn layer over Resolute (75N), Aspendale (38S) and in the northern mid-latitude band, but in the 20-24 km layer in the northern subtropical band. In the upper layers the QBO effect is less evident. In the tropospheric layer it is difficult to note the QBO-related effect in all the groups of the data. In all the layers where the QBO effect is noted the positive deviations precede, but the negative deviations follow the time of maximum of the easterly equatorial wind at 50 mb level. No essential differences in phase or amplitude characteristics of the ozone QBO were noted for the Aspendale data compared with that for the Northern Hemisphere data. The QBO-effect is not noted in the temperature data in the mid-latitudes. Above Resolute and in subtropics the ozone and temperature effects are roughly in phase each with other, except in the 28-32 km layer over subtropics, where they are opposite each to other.

Sitnov, Sergey A.↗

Radiative forcing perturbation due to observed increases in tropospheric ozone at Hohenpeissenberg

The effect on surface temperature due to changes in atmospheric O3 depends highly on the latitude where the change occurs. Previous sensitivity calculations indicate that ozone changes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere are more effective in causing surface temperature change (Wang et al., 1980). Long term ground-based observations show that tropospheric ozone, especially at the tropopause region, has been increasing at middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere (NATO, 1988; Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, 1992). These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect and increase the radiative forcing to the troposphere-surface system, which is opposite to the negative radiative forcing calculated from the observed stratospheric ozone depletion recently reported in WMO (1992). We used more than two thousands regularly measured ozonesondes providing reliable vertical O3 distribution at Hohenpeissenberg (47N; 11E) for the 1967-1990 to study the instantaneous solar and longwave radiative forcing the two decades 1971-1990 and compare the forcing with those caused by increasing CO2, CH4, N2O, and CFCs. Calculations are also made to compare the O3 radiative forcing between stratospheric depletion and tropospheric increase. Results indicate that the O3 changes will induce a positive radiative forcing dominated by tropospheric O3 increase and the magnitude of the forcing is comparable to that due to CO2 increases during the two decades. The significant implications of the tropospheric O3 increase to the global climate are discussed.

Wang, Wei-Chyung↗

Ozone laminae near the edge of the stratospheric polar vortex

Analysis of ozonesonde data collected at high northern latitudes in winter and spring shows that laminae of enhanced and depleted ozone are associated with the polar vortex. In January and February, they are most common at all latitudes in the potential temperature range 370-430 K, but are abundant up to 500 K between 60 and 70 deg N. In March and April they occur most frequently northward of 75 deg N, and are abundant up to 520 K, whereas they are largely confined to the range 320-440 K at lower latitudes. Analysis of ozone lidar data obtained during AASE-1 depicts clearly the extrusion of laminae of enhanced ozone concentration from the polar regions in the altitude range 13-15 km. These extrusions form a class of laminae which transport ozone equatorward in the lowest levels of the stratosphere.

Reid, S. J.↗