An analysis of ozonesonde data for the lower stratosphere: Recommendations for testing models

I present an analysis of ozonesonde data with a focus on using these data to evaluate stratospheric models of transport and chemistry. Ozonesondes are the only instruments that provide year-round profiles of ozone throughout the lowermost stratosphere for middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. I show vertical profiles and the annual cycle of ozone at selected pressure levels and stations and use TOMS data to evaluate the spatial bias of the sonde stations with respect to zonal mean values of column ozone. Between 10 and 30% of the ozone column is located between 100 hPa and the tropopause at middle and high latitudes, and this region drives much of the seasonal variation of the ozone column. The sonde data allow quantification of the buildup of ozone in the lowermost stratosphere of the Northern Hemisphere in winter and of its loss in late spring and summer. The amount of ozone between the tropopause and 100 hPA in the Northern Hemisphere decreases from 175 to 75 Tg from March to September, with the maximum rate of decrease in May to June; about half of the decrease is caused by the increase in the height of the tropopause. There is a lag of about a month in the time when ozone starts to accumulate in the lowermost stratosphere, from September near 40°N to October or November near 80°N, and a similar lag in the time when ozone starts to decrease, from February or March near 40°N to March or April near 80°N. I propose that the sonde data be used to provide a test of transport in two- and three-dimensional models in addition to those provided by long-lived tracers, such as N2O, CFCs, CO2, CH4, and their correlation patterns, and age of air. The annual variation of the ozone content of the lowermost stratosphere in the Northern Hemisphere is suggested as a particularly useful constraint on transport parameterizations. I make recommendations for the use of particular stations and provide summary statistics for ozone concentrations and for the mean tropopause height for each station.

[1]  R. Garcia,et al.  Ozone depletion at mid‐latitudes: Coupling of volcanic aerosols and temperature variability to anthropogenic chlorine , 1998 .

[2]  G. Mégie,et al.  Intercomparison campaign of vertical ozone profiles including electrochemical sondes of ECC and Brewer-Mast type and a ground based UV-differential absorption lidar , 1994 .

[3]  Ulrich Dutsch.  Two Years of Regular Ozone Soundings Over Boulder, Colorado , 1966 .

[4]  A. R. Meetham,et al.  Vertical Distribution of Ozone in the Atmosphere , 1933, Nature.

[5]  W. Hering,et al.  OZONESONDE OBSERVATIONS OVER NORTH AMERICA, VOLUME 3. , 1964 .

[6]  V. Kirchhoff,et al.  Ozone climatology at Natal, Brazil, from in situ ozonesonde data , 1991 .

[7]  E. Remsberg,et al.  The atmospheric effects of stratospheric aircraft. Report of the 1992 Models and Measurements Workshop. Volume 3: Special diagnostic studies , 1993 .

[8]  H. Dütsch,et al.  Vertical ozone distribution on a global scale , 1978 .

[9]  E. M. Larson,et al.  Three‐dimensional simulations of wintertime ozone variability in the lower stratosphere , 1991 .

[10]  Robert A. Barnes,et al.  Electrochemical concentration cell ozonesonde performance evaluation during STOIC 1989 , 1995 .

[11]  Gordon Labow,et al.  An assessment of the accuracy of 14.5 years of Nimbus 7 TOMS Version 7 ozone data by comparison with the Dobson network , 1996 .

[12]  David Rind,et al.  Increased polar stratospheric ozone losses and delayed eventual recovery owing to increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations , 1998, Nature.

[13]  Lori M. Perliski,et al.  On the interpretation of seasonal variations of stratospheric ozone , 1989 .

[14]  G. Vaughan,et al.  Occurrence of ozone laminae near the boundary of the stratospheric polar vortex , 1993 .

[15]  W. Evans,et al.  Results from the balloon ozone intercomparison campaign (BOIC) , 1986 .

[16]  J. London.  The observed distribution of atmospheric ozone and its variations , 1985 .

[17]  K. Rosenlof,et al.  Estimates of the stratospheric residual circulation using the downward control principle , 1993 .

[18]  C. Appenzeller,et al.  Seasonal variation of mass transport across the tropopause , 1996 .

[19]  D. Fahey,et al.  Reactive nitrogen and its correlation with ozone in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere , 1993 .

[20]  S. Oltmans,et al.  Ozone loss in the lower stratosphere over the United States in 1992-1993: Evidence for heterogeneous chemistry on the Pinatubo aerosol , 1994 .

[21]  J. Holton,et al.  Stratosphere‐troposphere exchange , 1995 .

[22]  G. Dobson.  The laminated structure of the ozone in the atmosphere , 1973 .

[23]  M. Shiotani,et al.  Stratospheric ozone variations in the equatorial region as seen in Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment data , 1994 .

[24]  William G. Read,et al.  Validation of UARS Microwave Limb Sounder ClO measurements , 1996 .

[25]  Malcolm K. W. Ko,et al.  Interrelationships between mixing ratios of long‐lived stratospheric constituents , 1992 .

[26]  H. Dütsch,et al.  Six years of regular ozone soundings over Switzerland , 1973 .

[27]  S. Chandra,et al.  Past, present, and future modeled ozone trends with comparisons to observed trends , 1996 .

[28]  Andrew Gettelman,et al.  Mass fluxes of O3, CH4, N2O and CF2Cl2 in the lower stratosphere calculated from observational data , 1997 .

[29]  J. London,et al.  Long-term tropospheric and lower stratospheric ozone variations from ozonesonde observations , 1992 .

[30]  Randel,et al.  Trends in the vertical distribution of ozone , 1999, Science.

[31]  L. Flynn,et al.  Comparison of SBUV and SAGE II ozone profiles: Implications for ozone trends , 1994 .

[32]  Derek M. Cunnold,et al.  Overview of UARS ozone validation based primarily on intercomparisons among UARS and Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II measurements , 1996 .

[33]  P. Bhartia,et al.  Average ozone profiles for 1979 from the Nimbus 7 SBUV instrument , 1984 .

[34]  J. Holton.  On the Global Exchange of Mass between the Stratosphere and Troposphere , 1990 .

[35]  P. Rasch,et al.  A three‐dimensional general circulation model with coupled chemistry for the middle atmosphere , 1995 .

[36]  Jennifer A. Logan,et al.  An analysis of ozonesonde data for the troposphere : recommendations for testing 3-D models and development of a gridded climatology for tropospheric ozone , 1999 .

[37]  James B. Kerr,et al.  Record low ozone values over Canada in early 1993 , 1993 .

[38]  James B. Kerr,et al.  Trends of ozone in the troposphere , 1998 .

[39]  Jennifer A. Logan,et al.  Trends in the vertical distribution of ozone: An analysis of ozonesonde data , 1994 .

[40]  L. Froidevaux,et al.  Residual Circulation in the Stratosphere and Lower Mesosphere as Diagnosed from Microwave Limb Sounder Data , 1996 .

[41]  Annual variation of total ozone at Syowa Station, Antarctica , 1997 .

[42]  A. Pittock.  Climatology of the vertical distribution of ozone over Aspendale (38°S 145°) , 1977 .

[43]  Robert E. Veiga,et al.  An overview of sage I and II ozone measurements , 1989 .

[44]  W. Hering.  Ozone and atmospheric transport processes , 1966 .

[45]  D. Fahey,et al.  Measurements of polar vortex air in the midlatitudes , 1996 .

[46]  G. E. Peckham,et al.  Validation of UARS Microwave Limb Sounder ozone measurements , 1996 .

[47]  H. Dütsch.  The Ozone Distribution in the Atmosphere , 1974 .

[48]  R. Boughner,et al.  On the origin of midlatitude ozone changes: Data analysis , 1997 .

[49]  S. Oltmans,et al.  Ozone vertical profile changes over South Pole , 1994 .

[50]  Lawrence E. Flynn,et al.  Long‐term ozone trends derived from the 16‐year combined Nimbus 7/Meteor 3 TOMS Version 7 record , 1996 .

[51]  K. Rosenlof.  Seasonal cycle of the residual mean meridional circulation in the stratosphere , 1995 .

[52]  D. Fahey,et al.  The 1995 scientific assessment of the atmospheric effects of stratospheric aircraft , 1995 .

[53]  Rolando R. Garcia,et al.  A new numerical model of the middle atmosphere. 2: Ozone and related species , 1994 .

[54]  C. Walshaw.  G. M. B. Dobson—The man and his work , 1989 .

[55]  R. Stolarski,et al.  The sensitivity of total ozone and ozone perturbation scenarios in a two‐dimensional model due to dynamical inputs , 1989 .

[56]  B. Connor,et al.  Comparison of cryogenic limb array etalon spectrometer (CLAES) ozone observations with correlative measurements , 1996 .

[57]  Jos Lelieveld,et al.  Distribution and budget of O3 in the troposphere calculated with a chemistry general circulation model. , 1995 .

[58]  J. Logan,et al.  Seasonal variations of tropospheric ozone at Natal, Brazil , 1986 .

[59]  Alternative Fluorocarbon environmental Acceptability Study.  Scientific assessment of stratospheric ozone, 1989 , 1989 .

[60]  C. Appenzeller,et al.  Tracer lamination in the stratosphere: A global climatology , 1997 .

[61]  S. S. Krigman,et al.  Preliminary results from POAM II: Stratospheric ozone at high northern latitudes , 1995 .

[62]  R. Garcia,et al.  The role of aerosol variations in anthropogenic ozone depletion at northern midlatitudes , 1996 .

[63]  G. Vaughan,et al.  Lamination in ozone profiles in the lower stratosphere , 1991 .

[64]  K. Tung,et al.  Cross‐isentropic stratosphere‐troposphere exchange of mass and water vapor , 1996 .

[65]  Monitoring,et al.  Scientific assessment of ozone depletion: 1991 , 1992 .

[66]  A. C. Holland,et al.  An improved rocket ozonesonde (ROCOZ‐A): 3. Northern mid‐latitude ozone measurements from 1983 to 1985 , 1989 .

[67]  S. R. Drayson,et al.  Halogen Occultation Experiment ozone channel validation , 1996 .

[68]  Randall R. Friedl,et al.  Atmospheric Effects of Subsonic Aircraft: Interim Assessment Report of the Advanced Subsonic Technology Program , 1997 .

[69]  Lori M. Perliski,et al.  Satellite observed long-term averaged seasonal and spatial ozone variations in the stratosphere , 1989 .

[70]  D. Jacob,et al.  Global simulation of tropospheric O3-NOx-hydrocarbon chemistry , 1998 .

[71]  J. Ziemke,et al.  Zonal asymmetries in southern hemisphere column ozone : Implications of biomass burning , 1996 .