Changes in ozone over Europe: Analysis of ozone measurements from sondes, regular aircraft (MOZAIC) and alpine surface sites

Logan, Jennifer A.; Staehelin, J.; Megretskaia, I. A.; Cammas, Jean‐Pierre; Thouret, V.; Claude, H.; Backer, H. De; Steinbacher, Martin; Scheel, H. E.; Stübi, René; Fröhlich, Marina; Derwent, R.G.

doi:10.1029/2011jd016952

Cited by 172 publications

(313 citation statements)

References 87 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

280

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although these sites provide only sparse coverage of the northern midlatitudes, the sites do represent baseline (here understood as representative of continental to hemispheric scales) O 3 [Parrish et al, 2012], so we hypothesize it is a hemisphere-wide phenomenon. To support this hypothesis, it would be useful to extend this analysis to other O 3 data sets (e.g., those described in Logan et al [2012]), although we note that few existing long-term records are appropriate for this type of analysis. We now discuss possible causes for this seasonal cycle shift.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This increase slowed, at least over Europe, by the late 1990s, and at some European sites O 3 has begun to decrease, particularly in summer [e.g., Logan et al, 2012]. Chemical transport models generally attribute this general O 3 increase to increasing anthropogenic precursor emissions and changes in meteorology or natural emissions [e.g., Stevenson et al, 2012].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lower tropospheric ozone at northern midlatitudes: Changing seasonal cycle

Parrish

Law

Staehelin³

et al. 2013

Geophysical Research Letters

Self Cite

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] At northern midlatitudes the abundance of tropospheric O 3 has increased by a factor of approximately 2 since the 1950s. The cause of this increase is generally attributed to increasing anthropogenic precursor emissions, but present chemical and transport models cannot quantitatively reproduce its magnitude. Here we show another manifestation of changes in O 3 abundance-a shift of the seasonal cycle at northern midlatitudes so that the observed peak concentrations now appear earlier in the year than in previous decades. The rate of this shift has been 3 to 6 days per decade since the 1970s. We examine possible reasons to explain this shift and suggest it is due to changes in atmospheric transport patterns combined with spatial and temporal changes in emissions. Detailed modeling is necessary to test these hypotheses; this investigation will provide useful guidance for improving global chemistry-climate models and stringent tests of the model results. Citation:

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lower tropospheric ozone at northern midlatitudes: Changing seasonal cycle

Parrish

Law

Staehelin³

et al. 2013

Geophysical Research Letters

Self Cite

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, the results from previous comparisons of BM sondes with other types of sondes, either on dual flights or in the laboratory, or with other instrument types are not consistent (Smit and Kley, 1998; , 2008). The performance of the BM sondes in the troposphere is even more problematic than in the stratosphere, and the quality of tropospheric data from earlier European BM sondes has been questioned by Schnadt Poberaj et al (2009) and Logan et al (2012). The BM sondes flown operationally at Hohenpeissenberg, Payerne, and Uccle from 1994 to 1997 overestimate O 3 by up to 25 % in the upper troposphere compared to the MOZAIC aircraft measurements (Staufer et al, 2014).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This increase is caused by growing emissions of, for example, nitrogen oxides (NO x ), methane, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons particularly in the first (2) decades (e.g. Logan et al, 2012). Thereafter, a levelling off of the ozone amounts took place due to declining anthropogenic ozone precursor emissions (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On instrumental errors and related correction strategies of ozonesondes: possible effect on calculated ozone trends for the nearby sites Uccle and De Bilt

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The ozonesonde stations at Uccle (Belgium) and De Bilt (the Netherlands) are separated by only 175 km but use different ozonesonde types (or different manufacturers for the same electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) type), operating procedures, and correction strategies. As such, these stations form a unique test bed for the Ozonesonde Data Quality Assessment (O3S-DQA) activity, which aims at providing a revised, homogeneous, consistent dataset with an altitude-dependent estimated uncertainty for each revised profile. For the ECC ozonesondes at Uccle mean relative uncertainties in the 4-6 % range are obtained. To study the impact of the corrections on the ozone profiles and trends, we compared the Uccle and De Bilt average ozone profiles and vertical ozone trends, calculated from the operational corrections at both stations and the O3S-DQA corrected profiles.In the common ECC 1997-2014 period, the O3S-DQA corrections effectively reduce the differences between the Uccle and De Bilt ozone partial pressure values with respect to the operational corrections only for the stratospheric layers below the ozone maximum. The upper-stratospheric ozone measurements at both sites are substantially different, regardless of the correction methodology used. The origin of this difference is not clear. The discrepancies in the tropospheric ozone concentrations between both sites can be ascribed to the problematic background measurement and correction at De Bilt, especially in the period before November 1998. The Uccle operational correction method, applicable to both ozonesonde types used, diminishes the relative stratospheric ozone differences of the Brewer-Mast sondes in the 1993-1996 period with De Bilt to less than 5 % and to less than 6 % in the free troposphere for the De Bilt operational corrections.Despite their large impact on the average ozone profiles, the different (sensible) correction strategies do not change the ozone trends significantly, usually only within their statistical uncertainty due to atmospheric noise. The O3S-DQA corrections bring the Uccle and De Bilt ozone trend estimates for 1997-2014 closer to each other in the lower stratosphere and lower troposphere. Throughout the whole vertical profile, these trend estimates are, however, not significantly different from each other, and only in the troposphere significantly positive. For the entire Uccle observation period , the operational corrections lead to height-independent and consistent ozone trends for both the troposphere and the stratosphere, with rates of + 2 to +3 % decade −1 and −1 to −2 % decade −1 , respectively.

show abstract

“…Further in-depth study of NSO enhancement with observed data and model simulations is required to fully understand the processes and implications, particularly with observed increasing trend in the background tropospheric ozone (Logan et al, 2012) due to climate change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nocturnal surface ozone enhancement over Portugal during winter: Influence of different atmospheric conditions

Kulkarni

Dasari

Sharma

et al. 2016

Atmospheric Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

h i g h l i g h t s4 distinct events of nocturnal surface ozone (NSO) enhancement were analyzed. WRF model was used to simulate the atmospheric conditions during NSO enhancement. Results show that different atmospheric mechanisms are responsible for each event.a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c tFour distinct nocturnal surface ozone (NSO) enhancement events were observed, with NSO concentration exceeding 80mg/m 3 , at multiple ozone (O 3 ) monitoring stations (32 sites) in January, November and December between year 2000e2010, in Portugal. The reasonable explanation for the observed bimodal pattern of surface ozone with enhanced NSO concentration during nighttime has to be transport processes, as the surface ozone production ceases at nighttime. Simultaneous measurements of O 3 at multiple stations during the study period in Portugal suggest that horizontal advection alone cannot explain the observed NSO enhancement. Thus, detailed analysis of the atmospheric conditions, simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, were performed to evaluate the atmospheric mechanisms responsible for NSO enhancement in the region. Simulations revealed that each event occurred as a result of one or the combination of different atmospheric processes such as, passage of a cold front followed by a subsidence zone; passage of a moving surface trough, with associated strong horizontal wind speed and vertical shear; combination of vertical and horizontal transport at the synoptic scale; formation of a low level jet with associated vertical mixing below the jet stream. The study confirmed that large-scale flow pattern resulting in enhanced vertical mixing in the nocturnal boundary layer, plays a key role in the NSO enhancement events, which frequently occur over Portugal during winter months.

show abstract

Changes in ozone over Europe: Analysis of ozone measurements from sondes, regular aircraft (MOZAIC) and alpine surface sites

Cited by 172 publications

References 87 publications

Lower tropospheric ozone at northern midlatitudes: Changing seasonal cycle

Lower tropospheric ozone at northern midlatitudes: Changing seasonal cycle

On instrumental errors and related correction strategies of ozonesondes: possible effect on calculated ozone trends for the nearby sites Uccle and De Bilt

Nocturnal surface ozone enhancement over Portugal during winter: Influence of different atmospheric conditions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About