Articles | Volume 23, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-843-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-843-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Jan 2023
Research article |
| 18 Jan 2023
| 18 Jan 2023
Observed changes in stratospheric circulation: decreasing lifetime of N2O, 2005–2021
Earth System Science Department, University of California Irvine,
Irvine, CA 92697-3100, USA
Lucien Froidevaux
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91011, USA
Nathaniel J. Livesey
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91011, USA
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Paul T. Griffiths, Laura J. Wilcox, Robert J. Allen, Vaishali Naik, Fiona M. O'Connor, Michael J. Prather, Alexander T. Archibald, Florence Brown, Makoto Deushi, William Collins, Stephanie Fiedler, Naga Oshima, Lee T. Murray, Christopher J. Smith, Steven T. Turnock, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Paul J. Young
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2528, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2528, 2024
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The Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) aimed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases. In this paper, we review its contribution to AR6, and the wider understanding of the role of these species in climate and climate change. We identify remaining challenges concluding with recommendations aimed to improve the utility and uptake of climate model data to address the role of short-lived climate forcers in the Earth system.
Calum Patrick Wilson and Michael John Prather
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1173, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1173, 2024
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We evaluated how well we can infer air pollutant levels (ozone, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides) between air quality stations throughout South Korea, finding good representation in most densely measured cities in spite of intense small-scale emission hotspots. Comparing observed air quality with gridded model output is desirable, and so we created gridded datasets over South Korea using air quality station measurements, which agreed with airborne measurements around Seoul.
Jinbo Xie, Qi Tang, Michael Prather, Jadwiga Richter, and Shixuan Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1927, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1927, 2024
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Analysis of the interaction between the climate and ozone in the stratosphere is complicated by the in-ability climate model in simulating the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) – an important climate mode in the stratosphere. We use a set of model simulation that realistically simulate QBO and a novel ozone diagnostic tool to separate the temperature and circulation-driven QBO impact. These are important for diagnosing model-model differences in the QBO-ozone responses for climate projections.
Hanqin Tian, Naiqing Pan, Rona L. Thompson, Josep G. Canadell, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Pierre Regnier, Eric A. Davidson, Michael Prather, Philippe Ciais, Marilena Muntean, Shufen Pan, Wilfried Winiwarter, Sönke Zaehle, Feng Zhou, Robert B. Jackson, Hermann W. Bange, Sarah Berthet, Zihao Bian, Daniele Bianchi, Alexander F. Bouwman, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Geoffrey Dutton, Minpeng Hu, Akihiko Ito, Atul K. Jain, Aurich Jeltsch-Thömmes, Fortunat Joos, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Paul B. Krummel, Xin Lan, Angela Landolfi, Ronny Lauerwald, Ya Li, Chaoqun Lu, Taylor Maavara, Manfredi Manizza, Dylan B. Millet, Jens Mühle, Prabir K. Patra, Glen P. Peters, Xiaoyu Qin, Peter Raymond, Laure Resplandy, Judith A. Rosentreter, Hao Shi, Qing Sun, Daniele Tonina, Francesco N. Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, Nicolas Vuichard, Junjie Wang, Kelley C. Wells, Luke M. Western, Chris Wilson, Jia Yang, Yuanzhi Yao, Yongfa You, and Qing Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2543–2604, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2543-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2543-2024, 2024
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Atmospheric concentrations of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas 273 times more potent than carbon dioxide, have increased by 25 % since the preindustrial period, with the highest observed growth rate in 2020 and 2021. This rapid growth rate has primarily been due to a 40 % increase in anthropogenic emissions since 1980. Observed atmospheric N2O concentrations in recent years have exceeded the worst-case climate scenario, underscoring the importance of reducing anthropogenic N2O emissions.
Hsiang-He Lee, Qi Tang, and Michael Prather
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-203, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-203, 2024
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The E3SM Chemistry diagnostics package (ChemDyg) is a software tool, which is designed for the global climate model (E3SM) chemistry development. ChemDyg generates several diagnostic plots and tables for model-to-model and model-to-observation comparison, including 2-dimentional contour mapping plots, diurnal and annual cycle, time-series plots, and comprehensive processing tables. This paper is to introduce the details of each diagnostics set and its required input data formats in ChemDyg.
Michael J. Prather, Hao Guo, and Xin Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3299–3349, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3299-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3299-2023, 2023
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The Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) measured the chemical composition in air parcels from 0–12 km altitude on 2 km horizontal by 80 m vertical scales for four seasons, resolving most scales of chemical heterogeneity. ATom is one of the first missions designed to calculate the chemical evolution of each parcel, providing semi-global diurnal budgets for ozone and methane. Observations covered the remote troposphere: Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins, Southern Ocean, Arctic basin, Antarctica.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 99–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, 2023
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We have prepared a unique and unusual result from the recent ATom aircraft mission: a measurement-based derivation of the production and loss rates of ozone and methane over the ocean basins. These are the key products of chemistry models used in assessments but have thus far lacked observational metrics. It also shows the scales of variability of atmospheric chemical rates and provides a major challenge to the atmospheric models.
Michael J. Prather
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 703–709, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-703-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-703-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric CO2 fluctuations point to changes in fossil fuel emissions plus natural and perturbed variations in the natural carbon cycle. One unstudied source of variability is the stratosphere, where the influx of aged CO2-depleted air can cause surface fluctuations. Using modeling and, separately, scaling the observed N2O variability, I find that stratosphere-driven surface variability in CO2 is not a significant uncertainty (at most 10 % of the observed interannual variability).
Daniel J. Ruiz and Michael J. Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2079–2093, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2079-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2079-2022, 2022
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The stratosphere is an important source of tropospheric ozone, which affects climate, chemistry, and air quality, but is extremely difficult to quantify given the large production and loss terms in the troposphere. Here, we use other gases that are well observed and quantified as a reference to test our simulations of ozone transport in the atmosphere. This allows us to better constrain the stratospheric source of ozone and also offers guidance to improve future simulations of ozone transport.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13729–13746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, 2021
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The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission built a climatology of the chemical composition of tropospheric air parcels throughout the middle of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The level of detail allows us to reconstruct the photochemical budgets of O3 and CH4 over these vast, remote regions. We find that most of the chemical heterogeneity is captured at the resolution used in current global chemistry models and that the majority of reactivity occurs in the
hottest20 % of parcels.
Qi Tang, Michael J. Prather, Juno Hsu, Daniel J. Ruiz, Philip J. Cameron-Smith, Shaocheng Xie, and Jean-Christophe Golaz
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 1219–1236, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1219-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1219-2021, 2021
Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Michael J. Prather, Clare M. Flynn, Lee T. Murray, Arlene M. Fiore, Gustavo Correa, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Jonathan Guth, Béatrice Josse, Johannes Flemming, Vincent Huijnen, N. Luke Abraham, and Alex T. Archibald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16809–16828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16809-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16809-2018, 2018
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Photolysis (J rates) initiates and drives atmospheric chemistry, and Js are perturbed by factors of 2 by clouds. The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) Mission provides the first comprehensive observations on how clouds perturb Js through the remote Pacific and Atlantic basins. We compare these cloud-perturbation J statistics with those from nine global chemistry models. While basic patterns agree, there is a large spread across models, and all lack some basic features of the observations.
Sarah A. Strode, Junhua Liu, Leslie Lait, Róisín Commane, Bruce Daube, Steven Wofsy, Austin Conaty, Paul Newman, and Michael Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10955–10971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10955-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10955-2018, 2018
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The GEOS-5 atmospheric model provided forecasts for the Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom). GEOS-5 shows skill in simulating the carbon monoxide (CO) measured in ATom-1. African fires contribute to high CO over the tropical Atlantic, but non-fire sources are the main contributors elsewhere. ATom aims to provide a chemical climatology, so we consider whether ATom-1 occurred during a typical summer month. Satellite observations suggest ATom-1 occurred in a clean but not exceptional month.
Michael J. Prather, Clare M. Flynn, Xin Zhu, Stephen D. Steenrod, Sarah A. Strode, Arlene M. Fiore, Gustavo Correa, Lee T. Murray, and Jean-Francois Lamarque
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2653–2668, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2653-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2653-2018, 2018
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A new protocol for merging in situ atmospheric chemistry measurements with 3-D models is developed. This technique can identify the most reactive air parcels in terms of tropospheric production/loss of O3 & CH4. This approach highlights differences in 6 global chemistry models even with composition specified. Thus in situ measurements from, e.g., NASA's ATom mission can be used to develop a chemical climatology of, not only the key species, but also the rates of key reactions in each air parcel.
Ruth M. Doherty, Clara Orbe, Guang Zeng, David A. Plummer, Michael J. Prather, Oliver Wild, Meiyun Lin, Drew T. Shindell, and Ian A. Mackenzie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14219–14237, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14219-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14219-2017, 2017
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We investigate how climate change impacts global air pollution transport. To study transport changes, we use a carbon monoxide (CO) tracer species emitted from global sources. We find robust and consistent changes in CO-tracer distributions in climate change simulations performed by four chemistry–climate models in different seasons. We highlight the importance of the co-location of emission source regions and controlling transport processes in determining future pollution transport.
Michael J. Prather, Xin Zhu, Clare M. Flynn, Sarah A. Strode, Jose M. Rodriguez, Stephen D. Steenrod, Junhua Liu, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Larry W. Horowitz, Jingqiu Mao, Lee T. Murray, Drew T. Shindell, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 9081–9102, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9081-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9081-2017, 2017
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We present a new approach for comparing atmospheric chemistry models with measurements based on what these models are used to do, i.e., calculate changes in ozone and methane, prime greenhouse gases. This method anticipates a new type of measurements from the NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission. In comparing the mixture of species within air parcels, we focus on those responsible for key chemical changes and weight these parcels by their chemical reactivity.
James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, Karina von Schuckmann, David J. Beerling, Junji Cao, Shaun Marcott, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Michael J. Prather, Eelco J. Rohling, Jeremy Shakun, Pete Smith, Andrew Lacis, Gary Russell, and Reto Ruedy
Earth Syst. Dynam., 8, 577–616, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-577-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-577-2017, 2017
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Global temperature now exceeds +1.25 °C relative to 1880–1920, similar to warmth of the Eemian period. Keeping warming less than 1.5 °C or CO2 below 350 ppm now requires extraction of CO2 from the air. If rapid phaseout of fossil fuel emissions begins soon, most extraction can be via improved agricultural and forestry practices. In contrast, continued high emissions places a burden on young people of massive technological CO2 extraction with large risks, high costs and uncertain feasibility.
Juno Hsu, Michael J. Prather, Philip Cameron-Smith, Alex Veidenbaum, and Alex Nicolau
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2525–2545, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2525-2017, 2017
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Solar-J is a high-fidelity solar radiative transfer Fortran 90 code. It has been developed for consistently calculating both the photolysis rates of important chemical species and the heating rates of the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Its spectral range spans from 177 nm to 12 microns. It can be easily dropped in as a module in global climate–chemistry models.
Gunnar Myhre, Wenche Aas, Ribu Cherian, William Collins, Greg Faluvegi, Mark Flanner, Piers Forster, Øivind Hodnebrog, Zbigniew Klimont, Marianne T. Lund, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Dirk Olivié, Michael Prather, Johannes Quaas, Bjørn H. Samset, Jordan L. Schnell, Michael Schulz, Drew Shindell, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Toshihiko Takemura, and Svetlana Tsyro
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2709–2720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2709-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2709-2017, 2017
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Over the past decades, the geographical distribution of emissions of substances that alter the atmospheric energy balance has changed due to economic growth and pollution regulations. Here, we show the resulting changes to aerosol and ozone abundances and their radiative forcing using recently updated emission data for the period 1990–2015, as simulated by seven global atmospheric composition models. The global mean radiative forcing is more strongly positive than reported in IPCC AR5.
William J. Collins, Jean-François Lamarque, Michael Schulz, Olivier Boucher, Veronika Eyring, Michaela I. Hegglin, Amanda Maycock, Gunnar Myhre, Michael Prather, Drew Shindell, and Steven J. Smith
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 585–607, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-585-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-585-2017, 2017
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We have designed a set of climate model experiments called the Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP). These are designed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases in the climate models that are used to simulate past and future climate. We hope that many climate modelling centres will choose to run these experiments to help understand the contribution of aerosols and chemistry to climate change.
Bojan Sič, Laaziz El Amraoui, Andrea Piacentini, Virginie Marécal, Emanuele Emili, Daniel Cariolle, Michael Prather, and Jean-Luc Attié
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5535–5554, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5535-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5535-2016, 2016
J. L. Schnell, M. J. Prather, B. Josse, V. Naik, L. W. Horowitz, P. Cameron-Smith, D. Bergmann, G. Zeng, D. A. Plummer, K. Sudo, T. Nagashima, D. T. Shindell, G. Faluvegi, and S. A. Strode
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10581–10596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10581-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10581-2015, 2015
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We test global chemistry--climate models in their ability to simulate present-day surface ozone. Models are tested against observed hourly ozone from 4217 stations in North America and Europe that are averaged over 1°x1° grid cells. Using novel metrics, we find most models match the shape but not the amplitude of regional summertime diurnal and annual cycles and match the pattern but not the magnitude of summer ozone enhancement. Most also match the observed distribution of extreme episode sizes
M. J. Prather
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2587–2595, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2587-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2587-2015, 2015
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A new approach for modeling photolysis rates (J values) in atmospheres with fractional cloud cover has been developed and is implemented as Cloud-J – a multi-scattering eight-stream radiative transfer model for solar radiation based on Fast-J. Using observations of the vertical correlation of cloud layers, Cloud-J provides a practical and accurate method for modeling atmospheric chemistry, which can be extended to solar heating rates.
J. L. Schnell, C. D. Holmes, A. Jangam, and M. J. Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7721–7739, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7721-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7721-2014, 2014
C. D. Holmes, M. J. Prather, and G. C. M. Vinken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6801–6812, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6801-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6801-2014, 2014
P. H. Lauritzen, P. A. Ullrich, C. Jablonowski, P. A. Bosler, D. Calhoun, A. J. Conley, T. Enomoto, L. Dong, S. Dubey, O. Guba, A. B. Hansen, E. Kaas, J. Kent, J.-F. Lamarque, M. J. Prather, D. Reinert, V. V. Shashkin, W. C. Skamarock, B. Sørensen, M. A. Taylor, and M. A. Tolstykh
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 105–145, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-105-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-105-2014, 2014
V. Naik, A. Voulgarakis, A. M. Fiore, L. W. Horowitz, J.-F. Lamarque, M. Lin, M. J. Prather, P. J. Young, D. Bergmann, P. J. Cameron-Smith, I. Cionni, W. J. Collins, S. B. Dalsøren, R. Doherty, V. Eyring, G. Faluvegi, G. A. Folberth, B. Josse, Y. H. Lee, I. A. MacKenzie, T. Nagashima, T. P. C. van Noije, D. A. Plummer, M. Righi, S. T. Rumbold, R. Skeie, D. T. Shindell, D. S. Stevenson, S. Strode, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, and G. Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 5277–5298, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-5277-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-5277-2013, 2013
A. Voulgarakis, V. Naik, J.-F. Lamarque, D. T. Shindell, P. J. Young, M. J. Prather, O. Wild, R. D. Field, D. Bergmann, P. Cameron-Smith, I. Cionni, W. J. Collins, S. B. Dalsøren, R. M. Doherty, V. Eyring, G. Faluvegi, G. A. Folberth, L. W. Horowitz, B. Josse, I. A. MacKenzie, T. Nagashima, D. A. Plummer, M. Righi, S. T. Rumbold, D. S. Stevenson, S. A. Strode, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, and G. Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2563–2587, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2563-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2563-2013, 2013
C. D. Holmes, M. J. Prather, O. A. Søvde, and G. Myhre
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 285–302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-285-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-285-2013, 2013
Ø. Hodnebrog, T. K. Berntsen, O. Dessens, M. Gauss, V. Grewe, I. S. A. Isaksen, B. Koffi, G. Myhre, D. Olivié, M. J. Prather, F. Stordal, S. Szopa, Q. Tang, P. van Velthoven, and J. E. Williams
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 12211–12225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-12211-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-12211-2012, 2012
Kimberlee Dubé, Susann Tegtmeier, Adam Bourassa, Daniel Zawada, Douglas Degenstein, William Randel, Sean Davis, Michael Schwartz, Nathaniel Livesey, and Anne Smith
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12925–12941, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12925-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12925-2024, 2024
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Greenhouse gas emissions that warm the troposphere also result in stratospheric cooling. The cooling rate is difficult to quantify above 35 km due to a deficit of long-term observational data with high vertical resolution in this region. We use satellite observations from several instruments, including a new temperature product from OSIRIS, to show that the upper stratosphere, from 35–60 km, cooled by 0.5 to 1 K per decade over 2005–2021 and by 0.6 K per decade over 1979–2021.
Paul T. Griffiths, Laura J. Wilcox, Robert J. Allen, Vaishali Naik, Fiona M. O'Connor, Michael J. Prather, Alexander T. Archibald, Florence Brown, Makoto Deushi, William Collins, Stephanie Fiedler, Naga Oshima, Lee T. Murray, Christopher J. Smith, Steven T. Turnock, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Paul J. Young
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2528, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2528, 2024
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The Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) aimed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases. In this paper, we review its contribution to AR6, and the wider understanding of the role of these species in climate and climate change. We identify remaining challenges concluding with recommendations aimed to improve the utility and uptake of climate model data to address the role of short-lived climate forcers in the Earth system.
Calum Patrick Wilson and Michael John Prather
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1173, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1173, 2024
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We evaluated how well we can infer air pollutant levels (ozone, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides) between air quality stations throughout South Korea, finding good representation in most densely measured cities in spite of intense small-scale emission hotspots. Comparing observed air quality with gridded model output is desirable, and so we created gridded datasets over South Korea using air quality station measurements, which agreed with airborne measurements around Seoul.
Jinbo Xie, Qi Tang, Michael Prather, Jadwiga Richter, and Shixuan Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1927, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1927, 2024
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Analysis of the interaction between the climate and ozone in the stratosphere is complicated by the in-ability climate model in simulating the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) – an important climate mode in the stratosphere. We use a set of model simulation that realistically simulate QBO and a novel ozone diagnostic tool to separate the temperature and circulation-driven QBO impact. These are important for diagnosing model-model differences in the QBO-ozone responses for climate projections.
Hanqin Tian, Naiqing Pan, Rona L. Thompson, Josep G. Canadell, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Pierre Regnier, Eric A. Davidson, Michael Prather, Philippe Ciais, Marilena Muntean, Shufen Pan, Wilfried Winiwarter, Sönke Zaehle, Feng Zhou, Robert B. Jackson, Hermann W. Bange, Sarah Berthet, Zihao Bian, Daniele Bianchi, Alexander F. Bouwman, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Geoffrey Dutton, Minpeng Hu, Akihiko Ito, Atul K. Jain, Aurich Jeltsch-Thömmes, Fortunat Joos, Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Paul B. Krummel, Xin Lan, Angela Landolfi, Ronny Lauerwald, Ya Li, Chaoqun Lu, Taylor Maavara, Manfredi Manizza, Dylan B. Millet, Jens Mühle, Prabir K. Patra, Glen P. Peters, Xiaoyu Qin, Peter Raymond, Laure Resplandy, Judith A. Rosentreter, Hao Shi, Qing Sun, Daniele Tonina, Francesco N. Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, Nicolas Vuichard, Junjie Wang, Kelley C. Wells, Luke M. Western, Chris Wilson, Jia Yang, Yuanzhi Yao, Yongfa You, and Qing Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2543–2604, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2543-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2543-2024, 2024
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Atmospheric concentrations of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas 273 times more potent than carbon dioxide, have increased by 25 % since the preindustrial period, with the highest observed growth rate in 2020 and 2021. This rapid growth rate has primarily been due to a 40 % increase in anthropogenic emissions since 1980. Observed atmospheric N2O concentrations in recent years have exceeded the worst-case climate scenario, underscoring the importance of reducing anthropogenic N2O emissions.
Lucien Froidevaux, Douglas E. Kinnison, Benjamin Gaubert, Michael J. Schwartz, Nathaniel J. Livesey, William G. Read, Charles G. Bardeen, Jerry R. Ziemke, and Ryan A. Fuller
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-525, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-525, 2024
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We compare observed changes in ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the tropical upper troposphere (10–15 km altitude) for 2005–2020 to predictions from model simulations that track the evolution of natural and industrial emissions transported to this region. An increasing trend in measured upper tropospheric O3 is generally well matched by the model trends. We also find that changes in modeled industrial CO surface emissions lead to better model agreement with observed decreasing CO trends.
Hsiang-He Lee, Qi Tang, and Michael Prather
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-203, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2023-203, 2024
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The E3SM Chemistry diagnostics package (ChemDyg) is a software tool, which is designed for the global climate model (E3SM) chemistry development. ChemDyg generates several diagnostic plots and tables for model-to-model and model-to-observation comparison, including 2-dimentional contour mapping plots, diurnal and annual cycle, time-series plots, and comprehensive processing tables. This paper is to introduce the details of each diagnostics set and its required input data formats in ChemDyg.
Michael J. Prather, Hao Guo, and Xin Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3299–3349, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3299-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3299-2023, 2023
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The Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) measured the chemical composition in air parcels from 0–12 km altitude on 2 km horizontal by 80 m vertical scales for four seasons, resolving most scales of chemical heterogeneity. ATom is one of the first missions designed to calculate the chemical evolution of each parcel, providing semi-global diurnal budgets for ozone and methane. Observations covered the remote troposphere: Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins, Southern Ocean, Arctic basin, Antarctica.
Frank Werner, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Luis F. Millán, William G. Read, Michael J. Schwartz, Paul A. Wagner, William H. Daffer, Alyn Lambert, Sasha N. Tolstoff, and Michelle L. Santee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2733–2751, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2733-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2733-2023, 2023
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The algorithm that produces the near-real-time data products of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder has been updated. The new algorithm is based on machine learning techniques and yields data products with much improved accuracy. It is shown that the new algorithm outperforms the previous versions, even when it is trained on only a few years of satellite observations. This confirms the potential of applying machine learning to the near-real-time efforts of other current and future mission concepts.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 99–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, 2023
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We have prepared a unique and unusual result from the recent ATom aircraft mission: a measurement-based derivation of the production and loss rates of ozone and methane over the ocean basins. These are the key products of chemistry models used in assessments but have thus far lacked observational metrics. It also shows the scales of variability of atmospheric chemical rates and provides a major challenge to the atmospheric models.
Eliane Maillard Barras, Alexander Haefele, René Stübi, Achille Jouberton, Herbert Schill, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Koji Miyagawa, Martin Stanek, and Lucien Froidevaux
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14283–14302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14283-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14283-2022, 2022
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Intercomparisons of three Dobson and three Brewer spectrophotometers at Arosa/Davos, Switzerland, are used for the homogenization of the longest Umkehr ozone profiles time series worldwide. Dynamic linear modeling (DLM) reveals a significant positive trend after 2004 in the upper stratosphere, a persistent negative trend between 25 and 30 km in the middle stratosphere, and a negative trend at 20 km in the lower stratosphere, with different levels of significance depending on the dataset.
Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Niramson Azouz, Viktoria F. Sofieva, Daan Hubert, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Peter Effertz, Gérard Ancellet, Doug A. Degenstein, Daniel Zawada, Lucien Froidevaux, Stacey Frith, Jeannette Wild, Sean Davis, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Thierry Leblanc, Richard Querel, Kleareti Tourpali, Robert Damadeo, Eliane Maillard Barras, René Stübi, Corinne Vigouroux, Carlo Arosio, Gerald Nedoluha, Ian Boyd, Roeland Van Malderen, Emmanuel Mahieu, Dan Smale, and Ralf Sussmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11657–11673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11657-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11657-2022, 2022
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An updated evaluation up to 2020 of stratospheric ozone profile long-term trends at extrapolar latitudes based on satellite and ground-based records is presented. Ozone increase in the upper stratosphere is confirmed, with significant trends at most latitudes. In this altitude region, a very good agreement is found with trends derived from chemistry–climate model simulations. Observed and modelled trends diverge in the lower stratosphere, but the differences are non-significant.
Lucien Froidevaux, Douglas E. Kinnison, Michelle L. Santee, Luis F. Millán, Nathaniel J. Livesey, William G. Read, Charles G. Bardeen, John J. Orlando, and Ryan A. Fuller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4779–4799, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4779-2022, 2022
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We analyze satellite-derived distributions of chlorine monoxide (ClO) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in the upper atmosphere. For 2005–2020, from 50°S to 50°N and over ~30 to 45 km, ClO and HOCl decreased by −0.7 % and −0.4 % per year, respectively. A detailed model of chemistry and dynamics agrees with the results. These decreases confirm the effectiveness of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which limited emissions of chlorine- and bromine-containing source gases, in order to protect the ozone layer.
Michael J. Prather
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 703–709, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-703-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-703-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric CO2 fluctuations point to changes in fossil fuel emissions plus natural and perturbed variations in the natural carbon cycle. One unstudied source of variability is the stratosphere, where the influx of aged CO2-depleted air can cause surface fluctuations. Using modeling and, separately, scaling the observed N2O variability, I find that stratosphere-driven surface variability in CO2 is not a significant uncertainty (at most 10 % of the observed interannual variability).
Daniel J. Ruiz and Michael J. Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2079–2093, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2079-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2079-2022, 2022
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The stratosphere is an important source of tropospheric ozone, which affects climate, chemistry, and air quality, but is extremely difficult to quantify given the large production and loss terms in the troposphere. Here, we use other gases that are well observed and quantified as a reference to test our simulations of ozone transport in the atmosphere. This allows us to better constrain the stratospheric source of ozone and also offers guidance to improve future simulations of ozone transport.
Frank Werner, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Michael J. Schwartz, William G. Read, Michelle L. Santee, and Galina Wind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7749–7773, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7749-2021, 2021
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In this study we present an improved cloud detection scheme for the Microwave Limb Sounder, which is based on a feedforward artificial neural network. This new algorithm is shown not only to reliably detect high and mid-level convection containing even small amounts of cloud water but also to distinguish between high-reaching and mid-level to low convection.
Hugh C. Pumphrey, Michael J. Schwartz, Michelle L. Santee, George P. Kablick III, Michael D. Fromm, and Nathaniel J. Livesey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16645–16659, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16645-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16645-2021, 2021
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Forest fires in British Columbia in August 2017 caused an unusual phenomonon: smoke and gases from the fires rose quickly to a height of 10 km. From there, the pollution continued to rise more slowly for many weeks, travelling around the world as it did so. In this paper, we describe how we used data from a satellite instrument to observe this polluted volume of air. The satellite has now been working for 16 years but has observed only three events of this type.
Nathaniel J. Livesey, William G. Read, Lucien Froidevaux, Alyn Lambert, Michelle L. Santee, Michael J. Schwartz, Luis F. Millán, Robert F. Jarnot, Paul A. Wagner, Dale F. Hurst, Kaley A. Walker, Patrick E. Sheese, and Gerald E. Nedoluha
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15409–15430, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15409-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15409-2021, 2021
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The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), an instrument on NASA's Aura mission launched in 2004, measures vertical profiles of the temperature and composition of Earth's "middle atmosphere" (the region from ~12 to ~100 km altitude). We describe how, among the 16 trace gases measured by MLS, the measurements of water vapor (H2O) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have started to drift since ~2010. The paper also discusses the origins of this drift and work to ameliorate it in a new version of the MLS dataset.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13729–13746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, 2021
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The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission built a climatology of the chemical composition of tropospheric air parcels throughout the middle of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The level of detail allows us to reconstruct the photochemical budgets of O3 and CH4 over these vast, remote regions. We find that most of the chemical heterogeneity is captured at the resolution used in current global chemistry models and that the majority of reactivity occurs in the
hottest20 % of parcels.
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Monika Szeląg, Johanna Tamminen, Erkki Kyrölä, Doug Degenstein, Chris Roth, Daniel Zawada, Alexei Rozanov, Carlo Arosio, John P. Burrows, Mark Weber, Alexandra Laeng, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Lucien Froidevaux, Nathaniel Livesey, Michel van Roozendael, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6707–6720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6707-2021, 2021
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The MErged GRIdded Dataset of Ozone Profiles is a long-term (2001–2018) stratospheric ozone profile climate data record with resolved longitudinal structure that combines the data from six limb satellite instruments. The dataset can be used for various analyses, some of which are discussed in the paper. In particular, regionally and vertically resolved ozone trends are evaluated, including trends in the polar regions.
Qi Tang, Michael J. Prather, Juno Hsu, Daniel J. Ruiz, Philip J. Cameron-Smith, Shaocheng Xie, and Jean-Christophe Golaz
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 1219–1236, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1219-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1219-2021, 2021
Seidai Nara, Tomohiro O. Sato, Takayoshi Yamada, Tamaki Fujinawa, Kota Kuribayashi, Takeshi Manabe, Lucien Froidevaux, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Kaley A. Walker, Jian Xu, Franz Schreier, Yvan J. Orsolini, Varavut Limpasuvan, Nario Kuno, and Yasuko Kasai
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6837–6852, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6837-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6837-2020, 2020
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In the atmosphere, more than 80 % of chlorine compounds are anthropogenic. Hydrogen chloride (HCl), the main stratospheric chlorine reservoir, is useful to estimate the total budget of the atmospheric chlorine compounds. We report, for the first time, the HCl vertical distribution from the middle troposphere to the lower thermosphere using a high-sensitivity SMILES measurement; the data quality is quantified by comparisons with other measurements and via theoretical error analysis.
Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Kevin Bowman, Takashi Sekiya, Henk Eskes, Folkert Boersma, Helen Worden, Nathaniel Livesey, Vivienne H. Payne, Kengo Sudo, Yugo Kanaya, Masayuki Takigawa, and Koji Ogochi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2223–2259, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2223-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2223-2020, 2020
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This study presents the results from the Tropospheric Chemistry Reanalysis version 2 (TCR-2) for 2005–2018 obtained from the assimilation of multiple satellite measurements of ozone, CO, NO2, HNO3, and SO2 from the OMI, SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, TES, MLS, and MOPITT instruments. The evaluation results demonstrate the capability of the reanalysis products to improve understanding of the processes controlling variations in atmospheric composition, including long-term changes in air quality and emissions.
Thomas von Clarmann, Douglas A. Degenstein, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Stefan Bender, Amy Braverman, André Butz, Steven Compernolle, Robert Damadeo, Seth Dueck, Patrick Eriksson, Bernd Funke, Margaret C. Johnson, Yasuko Kasai, Arno Keppens, Anne Kleinert, Natalya A. Kramarova, Alexandra Laeng, Bavo Langerock, Vivienne H. Payne, Alexei Rozanov, Tomohiro O. Sato, Matthias Schneider, Patrick Sheese, Viktoria Sofieva, Gabriele P. Stiller, Christian von Savigny, and Daniel Zawada
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4393–4436, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4393-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4393-2020, 2020
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Remote sensing of atmospheric state variables typically relies on the inverse solution of the radiative transfer equation. An adequately characterized retrieval provides information on the uncertainties of the estimated state variables as well as on how any constraint or a priori assumption affects the estimate. This paper summarizes related techniques and provides recommendations for unified error reporting.
Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Michael J. Prather, Clare M. Flynn, Lee T. Murray, Arlene M. Fiore, Gustavo Correa, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Jonathan Guth, Béatrice Josse, Johannes Flemming, Vincent Huijnen, N. Luke Abraham, and Alex T. Archibald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16809–16828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16809-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16809-2018, 2018
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Photolysis (J rates) initiates and drives atmospheric chemistry, and Js are perturbed by factors of 2 by clouds. The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) Mission provides the first comprehensive observations on how clouds perturb Js through the remote Pacific and Atlantic basins. We compare these cloud-perturbation J statistics with those from nine global chemistry models. While basic patterns agree, there is a large spread across models, and all lack some basic features of the observations.
Dejian Fu, Susan S. Kulawik, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Annmarie Eldering, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Joao Teixeira, Fredrick W. Irion, Robert L. Herman, Gregory B. Osterman, Xiong Liu, Pieternel F. Levelt, Anne M. Thompson, and Ming Luo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5587–5605, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5587-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5587-2018, 2018
Sarah A. Strode, Junhua Liu, Leslie Lait, Róisín Commane, Bruce Daube, Steven Wofsy, Austin Conaty, Paul Newman, and Michael Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10955–10971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10955-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10955-2018, 2018
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The GEOS-5 atmospheric model provided forecasts for the Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom). GEOS-5 shows skill in simulating the carbon monoxide (CO) measured in ATom-1. African fires contribute to high CO over the tropical Atlantic, but non-fire sources are the main contributors elsewhere. ATom aims to provide a chemical climatology, so we consider whether ATom-1 occurred during a typical summer month. Satellite observations suggest ATom-1 occurred in a clean but not exceptional month.
Natalya A. Kramarova, Pawan K. Bhartia, Glen Jaross, Leslie Moy, Philippe Xu, Zhong Chen, Matthew DeLand, Lucien Froidevaux, Nathaniel Livesey, Douglas Degenstein, Adam Bourassa, Kaley A. Walker, and Patrick Sheese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2837–2861, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2837-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2837-2018, 2018
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The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Limb Profiler (LP) is a newly designed research sensor aiming to continue high vertical resolution ozone records from space-borne sensors. In summer 2017 all LP measurements were processed with the new version 2.5 algorithm. In this paper we provide a description of the key changes implemented in the new algorithm and evaluate the quality of ozone retrievals by comparing with independent satellite profile measurements (MLS, ACE-FTS and OSIRIS).
Michael J. Prather, Clare M. Flynn, Xin Zhu, Stephen D. Steenrod, Sarah A. Strode, Arlene M. Fiore, Gustavo Correa, Lee T. Murray, and Jean-Francois Lamarque
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2653–2668, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2653-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2653-2018, 2018
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A new protocol for merging in situ atmospheric chemistry measurements with 3-D models is developed. This technique can identify the most reactive air parcels in terms of tropospheric production/loss of O3 & CH4. This approach highlights differences in 6 global chemistry models even with composition specified. Thus in situ measurements from, e.g., NASA's ATom mission can be used to develop a chemical climatology of, not only the key species, but also the rates of key reactions in each air parcel.
Luis F. Millán, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Michelle L. Santee, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4187–4199, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4187-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4187-2018, 2018
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This study investigates orbital sampling biases and evaluates the additional impact caused by data quality screening for the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) and the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS).
Hugh C. Pumphrey, Norbert Glatthor, Peter F. Bernath, Christopher D. Boone, James W. Hannigan, Ivan Ortega, Nathaniel J. Livesey, and William G. Read
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 691–703, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-691-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-691-2018, 2018
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The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) is a satellite instrument that has been measuring the amount of various gases in the atmosphere since 2004. In late 2015 and 2016 it observed unusual amounts of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a gas produced when vegetation is burned. We compare the MLS observations to similar observations from other instruments. The excess HCN is shown to come from fires in Indonesia. There are more fires than usual in 2015–16 due to a drought caused by an El Niño event.
Ruth M. Doherty, Clara Orbe, Guang Zeng, David A. Plummer, Michael J. Prather, Oliver Wild, Meiyun Lin, Drew T. Shindell, and Ian A. Mackenzie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14219–14237, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14219-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14219-2017, 2017
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We investigate how climate change impacts global air pollution transport. To study transport changes, we use a carbon monoxide (CO) tracer species emitted from global sources. We find robust and consistent changes in CO-tracer distributions in climate change simulations performed by four chemistry–climate models in different seasons. We highlight the importance of the co-location of emission source regions and controlling transport processes in determining future pollution transport.
Michael J. Prather, Xin Zhu, Clare M. Flynn, Sarah A. Strode, Jose M. Rodriguez, Stephen D. Steenrod, Junhua Liu, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Larry W. Horowitz, Jingqiu Mao, Lee T. Murray, Drew T. Shindell, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 9081–9102, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9081-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9081-2017, 2017
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We present a new approach for comparing atmospheric chemistry models with measurements based on what these models are used to do, i.e., calculate changes in ozone and methane, prime greenhouse gases. This method anticipates a new type of measurements from the NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission. In comparing the mixture of species within air parcels, we focus on those responsible for key chemical changes and weight these parcels by their chemical reactivity.
James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, Karina von Schuckmann, David J. Beerling, Junji Cao, Shaun Marcott, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Michael J. Prather, Eelco J. Rohling, Jeremy Shakun, Pete Smith, Andrew Lacis, Gary Russell, and Reto Ruedy
Earth Syst. Dynam., 8, 577–616, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-577-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-577-2017, 2017
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Global temperature now exceeds +1.25 °C relative to 1880–1920, similar to warmth of the Eemian period. Keeping warming less than 1.5 °C or CO2 below 350 ppm now requires extraction of CO2 from the air. If rapid phaseout of fossil fuel emissions begins soon, most extraction can be via improved agricultural and forestry practices. In contrast, continued high emissions places a burden on young people of massive technological CO2 extraction with large risks, high costs and uncertain feasibility.
Juno Hsu, Michael J. Prather, Philip Cameron-Smith, Alex Veidenbaum, and Alex Nicolau
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2525–2545, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2525-2017, 2017
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Solar-J is a high-fidelity solar radiative transfer Fortran 90 code. It has been developed for consistently calculating both the photolysis rates of important chemical species and the heating rates of the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Its spectral range spans from 177 nm to 12 microns. It can be easily dropped in as a module in global climate–chemistry models.
Gunnar Myhre, Wenche Aas, Ribu Cherian, William Collins, Greg Faluvegi, Mark Flanner, Piers Forster, Øivind Hodnebrog, Zbigniew Klimont, Marianne T. Lund, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Dirk Olivié, Michael Prather, Johannes Quaas, Bjørn H. Samset, Jordan L. Schnell, Michael Schulz, Drew Shindell, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Toshihiko Takemura, and Svetlana Tsyro
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2709–2720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2709-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2709-2017, 2017
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Over the past decades, the geographical distribution of emissions of substances that alter the atmospheric energy balance has changed due to economic growth and pollution regulations. Here, we show the resulting changes to aerosol and ozone abundances and their radiative forcing using recently updated emission data for the period 1990–2015, as simulated by seven global atmospheric composition models. The global mean radiative forcing is more strongly positive than reported in IPCC AR5.
William J. Collins, Jean-François Lamarque, Michael Schulz, Olivier Boucher, Veronika Eyring, Michaela I. Hegglin, Amanda Maycock, Gunnar Myhre, Michael Prather, Drew Shindell, and Steven J. Smith
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 585–607, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-585-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-585-2017, 2017
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We have designed a set of climate model experiments called the Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP). These are designed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases in the climate models that are used to simulate past and future climate. We hope that many climate modelling centres will choose to run these experiments to help understand the contribution of aerosols and chemistry to climate change.
Alyn Lambert, Michelle L. Santee, and Nathaniel J. Livesey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 15219–15246, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15219-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15219-2016, 2016
Bojan Sič, Laaziz El Amraoui, Andrea Piacentini, Virginie Marécal, Emanuele Emili, Daniel Cariolle, Michael Prather, and Jean-Luc Attié
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5535–5554, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5535-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5535-2016, 2016
Luis F. Millán, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Michelle L. Santee, Jessica L. Neu, Gloria L. Manney, and Ryan A. Fuller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 11521–11534, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11521-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11521-2016, 2016
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This paper describes the impact of orbital sampling applied to stratospheric temperature and trace gas fields. Model fields are sampled using real sampling patterns from different satellites. We find that coarse nonuniform sampling patterns may introduce non-negligible errors into the inferred magnitude of temperature and trace gas trends and necessitate considerably longer records for their definitive detection.
Xiaolu Yan, Jonathon S. Wright, Xiangdong Zheng, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Holger Vömel, and Xiuji Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3547–3566, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3547-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3547-2016, 2016
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We evaluate Aura Microwave Limb Sounder retrievals of temperature, water vapour and ozone over the eastern Tibetan Plateau against measurements from balloon-borne instruments. The newest version of the retrievals (v4) represents a slight improvement over the previous version, particularly with respect to data yields and upper tropospheric ozone. We identify several biases that did not appear in evaluations conducted elsewhere, highlighting the unique challenges of remote sensing in this region.
Luis Millán, Matthew Lebsock, Nathaniel Livesey, and Simone Tanelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2633–2646, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2633-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2633-2016, 2016
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We discuss the theoretical capabilities of a radar technique to measure profiles of water vapor in cloudy/precipitating areas. The method uses two radar pulses at different frequencies near the 183 GHz H2O absorption line to determine water vapor profiles by measuring the differential absorption on and off the line. Results of inverting synthetic data assuming a satellite radar are presented.
Lei Huang, Jonathan H. Jiang, Lee T. Murray, Megan R. Damon, Hui Su, and Nathaniel J. Livesey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5641–5663, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5641-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5641-2016, 2016
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This study evaluates the distribution and variation of carbon monoxide (CO) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) during 2004–2012 on global and regional scales as simulated by two chemical transport models (GMI and GEOS-Chem), using the latest version (V4) of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations. The impacts of surface emissions and convection on CO concentrations in the UTLS over different regions are investigated, using both model simulations and MLS observations.
J. L. Schnell, M. J. Prather, B. Josse, V. Naik, L. W. Horowitz, P. Cameron-Smith, D. Bergmann, G. Zeng, D. A. Plummer, K. Sudo, T. Nagashima, D. T. Shindell, G. Faluvegi, and S. A. Strode
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10581–10596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10581-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10581-2015, 2015
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We test global chemistry--climate models in their ability to simulate present-day surface ozone. Models are tested against observed hourly ozone from 4217 stations in North America and Europe that are averaged over 1°x1° grid cells. Using novel metrics, we find most models match the shape but not the amplitude of regional summertime diurnal and annual cycles and match the pattern but not the magnitude of summer ozone enhancement. Most also match the observed distribution of extreme episode sizes
L. Froidevaux, J. Anderson, H.-J. Wang, R. A. Fuller, M. J. Schwartz, M. L. Santee, N. J. Livesey, H. C. Pumphrey, P. F. Bernath, J. M. Russell III, and M. P. McCormick
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10471–10507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10471-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10471-2015, 2015
J. Kuttippurath, S. Godin-Beekmann, F. Lefèvre, M. L. Santee, L. Froidevaux, and A. Hauchecorne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10385–10397, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10385-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10385-2015, 2015
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Our study finds large interannual variability in Antarctic ozone loss in the recent decade, with a number of winters showing shallow ozone holes but also with the year of the largest ozone hole in the last decades. These smaller ozone holes or ozone losses are mainly related to the year-to-year changes in dynamical processes rather than the variations in anthropogenic ozone-depleting substances (ODSs), as the change in ODS levels during the study period was very small.
N. J. Livesey, M. L. Santee, and G. L. Manney
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 9945–9963, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9945-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9945-2015, 2015
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Employing the well-established "Match" technique, we quantify polar
stratospheric ozone loss during multiple Arctic and Antarctic winters,
based on observations from the spaceborne Aura Microwave Limb Sounder
(MLS) instrument. The dense MLS spatial coverage enables many more
matches than is possible for balloon-based observations. Applying the
same technique to MLS observations of the long-lived N2O molecule gives
an measure of the impact of transport errors on our ozone loss
estimates.
M. J. Prather
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2587–2595, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2587-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2587-2015, 2015
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A new approach for modeling photolysis rates (J values) in atmospheres with fractional cloud cover has been developed and is implemented as Cloud-J – a multi-scattering eight-stream radiative transfer model for solar radiation based on Fast-J. Using observations of the vertical correlation of cloud layers, Cloud-J provides a practical and accurate method for modeling atmospheric chemistry, which can be extended to solar heating rates.
G. L. Manney, Z. D. Lawrence, M. L. Santee, N. J. Livesey, A. Lambert, and M. C. Pitts
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5381–5403, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5381-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5381-2015, 2015
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Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) cause a rapid rise in lower stratospheric temperatures, terminating conditions favorable to chemical ozone loss. We show that although temperatures rose precipitously during the vortex split SSW in early Jan 2013, because the offspring vortices each remained isolated and in regions that received sunlight, chemical ozone loss continued for over 1 month after the SSW. Dec/Jan Arctic ozone loss was larger than any previously observed during that period.
F. Tummon, B. Hassler, N. R. P. Harris, J. Staehelin, W. Steinbrecht, J. Anderson, G. E. Bodeker, A. Bourassa, S. M. Davis, D. Degenstein, S. M. Frith, L. Froidevaux, E. Kyrölä, M. Laine, C. Long, A. A. Penckwitt, C. E. Sioris, K. H. Rosenlof, C. Roth, H.-J. Wang, and J. Wild
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 3021–3043, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-3021-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-3021-2015, 2015
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Understanding ozone trends in the vertical is vital in terms of assessing the success of the Montreal Protocol. This paper compares and analyses the long-term trends in stratospheric ozone from seven new merged satellite data sets. The data sets largely agree well with each other, particularly for the negative trends seen in the early period 1984-1997. For the 1998-2011 period there is less agreement, but a clear shift from negative to mostly positive trends.
L. Millán, S. Wang, N. Livesey, D. Kinnison, H. Sagawa, and Y. Kasai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2889–2902, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2889-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2889-2015, 2015
H. C. Pumphrey, W. G. Read, N. J. Livesey, and K. Yang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 195–209, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-195-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-195-2015, 2015
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Volcanic eruptions can be violent enough to inject sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere: the layer of the atmosphere which contains the ozone layer. Sulfur dioxide is a gas, but once it is in the stratosphere various chemical reactions convert it into tiny particles. These particles can alter the Earth's climate by reflecting sunlight. In this paper we describe how we used a satellite instrument called the Microwave Limb Sounder to observe volcanic sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere.
A. Laeng, U. Grabowski, T. von Clarmann, G. Stiller, N. Glatthor, M. Höpfner, S. Kellmann, M. Kiefer, A. Linden, S. Lossow, V. Sofieva, I. Petropavlovskikh, D. Hubert, T. Bathgate, P. Bernath, C. D. Boone, C. Clerbaux, P. Coheur, R. Damadeo, D. Degenstein, S. Frith, L. Froidevaux, J. Gille, K. Hoppel, M. McHugh, Y. Kasai, J. Lumpe, N. Rahpoe, G. Toon, T. Sano, M. Suzuki, J. Tamminen, J. Urban, K. Walker, M. Weber, and J. Zawodny
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3971–3987, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3971-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3971-2014, 2014
L. Millán, M. Lebsock, N. Livesey, S. Tanelli, and G. Stephens
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3959–3970, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3959-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3959-2014, 2014
J. L. Schnell, C. D. Holmes, A. Jangam, and M. J. Prather
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7721–7739, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7721-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7721-2014, 2014
A. Parrish, I. S. Boyd, G. E. Nedoluha, P. K. Bhartia, S. M. Frith, N. A. Kramarova, B. J. Connor, G. E. Bodeker, L. Froidevaux, M. Shiotani, and T. Sakazaki
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7255–7272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7255-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7255-2014, 2014
C. D. Holmes, M. J. Prather, and G. C. M. Vinken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6801–6812, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6801-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6801-2014, 2014
V. F. Sofieva, N. Kalakoski, S.-M. Päivärinta, J. Tamminen, M. Laine, and L. Froidevaux
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1891–1900, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1891-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1891-2014, 2014
B. Hassler, I. Petropavlovskikh, J. Staehelin, T. August, P. K. Bhartia, C. Clerbaux, D. Degenstein, M. De Mazière, B. M. Dinelli, A. Dudhia, G. Dufour, S. M. Frith, L. Froidevaux, S. Godin-Beekmann, J. Granville, N. R. P. Harris, K. Hoppel, D. Hubert, Y. Kasai, M. J. Kurylo, E. Kyrölä, J.-C. Lambert, P. F. Levelt, C. T. McElroy, R. D. McPeters, R. Munro, H. Nakajima, A. Parrish, P. Raspollini, E. E. Remsberg, K. H. Rosenlof, A. Rozanov, T. Sano, Y. Sasano, M. Shiotani, H. G. J. Smit, G. Stiller, J. Tamminen, D. W. Tarasick, J. Urban, R. J. van der A, J. P. Veefkind, C. Vigouroux, T. von Clarmann, C. von Savigny, K. A. Walker, M. Weber, J. Wild, and J. M. Zawodny
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1395–1427, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1395-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1395-2014, 2014
E. Eckert, T. von Clarmann, M. Kiefer, G. P. Stiller, S. Lossow, N. Glatthor, D. A. Degenstein, L. Froidevaux, S. Godin-Beekmann, T. Leblanc, S. McDermid, M. Pastel, W. Steinbrecht, D. P. J. Swart, K. A. Walker, and P. F. Bernath
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2571–2589, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2571-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2571-2014, 2014
C. Gebhardt, A. Rozanov, R. Hommel, M. Weber, H. Bovensmann, J. P. Burrows, D. Degenstein, L. Froidevaux, and A. M. Thompson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 831–846, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-831-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-831-2014, 2014
P. H. Lauritzen, P. A. Ullrich, C. Jablonowski, P. A. Bosler, D. Calhoun, A. J. Conley, T. Enomoto, L. Dong, S. Dubey, O. Guba, A. B. Hansen, E. Kaas, J. Kent, J.-F. Lamarque, M. J. Prather, D. Reinert, V. V. Shashkin, W. C. Skamarock, B. Sørensen, M. A. Taylor, and M. A. Tolstykh
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 105–145, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-105-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-105-2014, 2014
C. Adams, A. E. Bourassa, V. Sofieva, L. Froidevaux, C. A. McLinden, D. Hubert, J.-C. Lambert, C. E. Sioris, and D. A. Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 49–64, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-49-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-49-2014, 2014
I. Fiorucci, G. Muscari, L. Froidevaux, and M. L. Santee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2441–2453, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2441-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2441-2013, 2013
Y. Kasai, H. Sagawa, D. Kreyling, E. Dupuy, P. Baron, J. Mendrok, K. Suzuki, T. O. Sato, T. Nishibori, S. Mizobuchi, K. Kikuchi, T. Manabe, H. Ozeki, T. Sugita, M. Fujiwara, Y. Irimajiri, K. A. Walker, P. F. Bernath, C. Boone, G. Stiller, T. von Clarmann, J. Orphal, J. Urban, D. Murtagh, E. J. Llewellyn, D. Degenstein, A. E. Bourassa, N. D. Lloyd, L. Froidevaux, M. Birk, G. Wagner, F. Schreier, J. Xu, P. Vogt, T. Trautmann, and M. Yasui
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2311–2338, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2311-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2311-2013, 2013
M. Khosravi, P. Baron, J. Urban, L. Froidevaux, A. I. Jonsson, Y. Kasai, K. Kuribayashi, C. Mitsuda, D. P. Murtagh, H. Sagawa, M. L. Santee, T. O. Sato, M. Shiotani, M. Suzuki, T. von Clarmann, K. A. Walker, and S. Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7587–7606, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7587-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7587-2013, 2013
V. Naik, A. Voulgarakis, A. M. Fiore, L. W. Horowitz, J.-F. Lamarque, M. Lin, M. J. Prather, P. J. Young, D. Bergmann, P. J. Cameron-Smith, I. Cionni, W. J. Collins, S. B. Dalsøren, R. Doherty, V. Eyring, G. Faluvegi, G. A. Folberth, B. Josse, Y. H. Lee, I. A. MacKenzie, T. Nagashima, T. P. C. van Noije, D. A. Plummer, M. Righi, S. T. Rumbold, R. Skeie, D. T. Shindell, D. S. Stevenson, S. Strode, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, and G. Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 5277–5298, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-5277-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-5277-2013, 2013
A. Voulgarakis, V. Naik, J.-F. Lamarque, D. T. Shindell, P. J. Young, M. J. Prather, O. Wild, R. D. Field, D. Bergmann, P. Cameron-Smith, I. Cionni, W. J. Collins, S. B. Dalsøren, R. M. Doherty, V. Eyring, G. Faluvegi, G. A. Folberth, L. W. Horowitz, B. Josse, I. A. MacKenzie, T. Nagashima, D. A. Plummer, M. Righi, S. T. Rumbold, D. S. Stevenson, S. A. Strode, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, and G. Zeng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2563–2587, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2563-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2563-2013, 2013
N. J. Livesey, J. A. Logan, M. L. Santee, J. W. Waters, R. M. Doherty, W. G. Read, L. Froidevaux, and J. H. Jiang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 579–598, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-579-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-579-2013, 2013
C. D. Holmes, M. J. Prather, O. A. Søvde, and G. Myhre
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 285–302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-285-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-285-2013, 2013
Ø. Hodnebrog, T. K. Berntsen, O. Dessens, M. Gauss, V. Grewe, I. S. A. Isaksen, B. Koffi, G. Myhre, D. Olivié, M. J. Prather, F. Stordal, S. Szopa, Q. Tang, P. van Velthoven, and J. E. Williams
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 12211–12225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-12211-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-12211-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Remote Sensing | Altitude Range: Stratosphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Emissions of methane from coal fields, thermal power plants, and wetlands and their implications for atmospheric methane across the south Asian region
Ozone anomalies over the polar regions during stratospheric warming events
No severe ozone depletion in the tropical stratosphere in recent decades
The Antarctic stratospheric nitrogen hole: Southern Hemisphere and Antarctic springtime total nitrogen dioxide and total ozone variability as observed by Sentinel-5p TROPOMI
Solar FTIR measurements of NOx vertical distributions – Part 1: First observational evidence of a seasonal variation in the diurnal increasing rates of stratospheric NO2 and NO
Trends in polar ozone loss since 1989: potential sign of recovery in the Arctic ozone column
Climatology, sources, and transport characteristics of observed water vapor extrema in the lower stratosphere
Impact of chlorine ion chemistry on ozone loss in the middle atmosphere during very large solar proton events
Total ozone variability and trends over the South Pole during the wintertime
Inferring the photolysis rate of NO2 in the stratosphere based on satellite observations
Technical note: On HALOE stratospheric water vapor variations and trends at Boulder, Colorado
Microwave radiometer observations of the ozone diurnal cycle and its short-term variability over Switzerland
Water vapour and ozone in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere: global climatologies from three Canadian limb-viewing instruments
Updated trends of the stratospheric ozone vertical distribution in the 60° S–60° N latitude range based on the LOTUS regression model
Polar stratospheric nitric acid depletion surveyed from a decadal dataset of IASI total columns
Global total ozone recovery trends attributed to ozone-depleting substance (ODS) changes derived from five merged ozone datasets
Global, regional and seasonal analysis of total ozone trends derived from the 1995–2020 GTO-ECV climate data record
Upper stratospheric ClO and HOCl trends (2005–2020): Aura Microwave Limb Sounder and model results
Challenge of modelling GLORIA observations of upper troposphere–lowermost stratosphere trace gas and cloud distributions at high latitudes: a case study with state-of-the-art models
A single-peak-structured solar cycle signal in stratospheric ozone based on Microwave Limb Sounder observations and model simulations
OClO as observed by TROPOMI: a comparison with meteorological parameters and polar stratospheric cloud observations
The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding global climatology of BrONO2 2002–2012: a test for stratospheric bromine chemistry
Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations of biomass burning products in the stratosphere from Canadian forest fires in August 2017
Exceptional loss in ozone in the Arctic winter/spring of 2019/2020
Fifty years of balloon-borne ozone profile measurements at Uccle, Belgium: a short history, the scientific relevance, and the achievements in understanding the vertical ozone distribution
On the use of satellite observations to fill gaps in the Halley station total ozone record
Pollution trace gases C2H6, C2H2, HCOOH, and PAN in the North Atlantic UTLS: observations and simulations
Measurement report: regional trends of stratospheric ozone evaluated using the MErged GRIdded Dataset of Ozone Profiles (MEGRIDOP)
Indicators of Antarctic ozone depletion: 1979 to 2019
Observational evidence of energetic particle precipitation NOx (EPP-NOx) interaction with chlorine curbing Antarctic ozone loss
Total column ozone in New Zealand and in the UK in the 1950s
Study of the dependence of long-term stratospheric ozone trends on local solar time
Technical note: LIMS observations of lower stratospheric ozone in the southern polar springtime of 1978
Chlorine partitioning near the polar vortex edge observed with ground-based FTIR and satellites at Syowa Station, Antarctica, in 2007 and 2011
Is the recovery of stratospheric O3 speeding up in the Southern Hemisphere? An evaluation from the first IASI decadal record (2008–2017)
Nitrification of the lowermost stratosphere during the exceptionally cold Arctic winter 2015–2016
Improved FTIR retrieval strategy for HCFC-22 (CHClF2), comparisons with in situ and satellite datasets with the support of models, and determination of its long-term trend above Jungfraujoch
A study on harmonizing total ozone assimilation with multiple sensors
Unusual chlorine partitioning in the 2015/16 Arctic winter lowermost stratosphere: observations and simulations
Dynamically controlled ozone decline in the tropical mid-stratosphere observed by SCIAMACHY
Stratospheric ozone loss in the Arctic winters between 2005 and 2013 derived with ACE-FTS measurements
Space–time variability in UTLS chemical distribution in the Asian summer monsoon viewed by limb and nadir satellite sensors
Using satellite measurements of N2O to remove dynamical variability from HCl measurements
Middle atmospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen trioxide in 2002–2011: SD-WACCM simulations compared to GOMOS observations
The Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC): history, status and perspectives
Spatio-temporal variations of nitric acid total columns from 9 years of IASI measurements – a driver study
Diurnal variation in middle-atmospheric ozone observed by ground-based microwave radiometry at Ny-Ålesund over 1 year
Total ozone trends from 1979 to 2016 derived from five merged observational datasets – the emergence into ozone recovery
The impact of nonuniform sampling on stratospheric ozone trends derived from occultation instruments
Diurnal variations of BrONO2 observed by MIPAS-B at midlatitudes and in the Arctic
Mahalakshmi Venkata Dangeti, Mahesh Pathakoti, Kanchana Lakshmi Asuri, Sujatha Peethani, Ibrahim Shaik, Rajan Krishnan Sundara, Vijay Kumar Sagar, Raja Pushpanathan, Yogesh Kumar Tiwari, and Prakash Chauhan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12843–12859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12843-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12843-2024, 2024
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The present study investigated the space–time variability of XCH4 over coal fields, power plants, and wetlands using long-term GOSAT and S5/TROPOMI data. The XCH4 variability associated with the heterogenous sources present in the south Asian (India) region and their implications for atmospheric XCH4 concentrations were evaluated. The CH4 concentrations were mapped against the emissions in the agro-climatic zones, and a statistically high correlation was found in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region.
Guochun Shi, Witali Krochin, Eric Sauvageat, and Gunter Stober
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10187–10207, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10187-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10187-2024, 2024
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Here we investigated ozone anomalies over polar regions during sudden stratospheric and final stratospheric warming with ground-based microwave radiometers at polar latitudes compared with reanalysis and satellite data. The underlying dynamical and chemical mechanisms are responsible for the observed ozone anomalies in both events. Our research sheds light on these processes, emphasizing the need for a deeper understanding of these processes for more accurate climate modeling and forecasting.
Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath, Gopalakrishna Pillai Gopikrishnan, Rolf Müller, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, and Jerome Brioude
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6743–6756, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6743-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6743-2024, 2024
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The current understanding and observational evidence do not provide any support for the possibility of an ozone hole occurring outside Antarctica today with respect to the present-day stratospheric halogen levels.
Adrianus de Laat, Jos van Geffen, Piet Stammes, Ronald van der A, Henk Eskes, and J. Pepijn Veefkind
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4511–4535, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4511-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4511-2024, 2024
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Removal of stratospheric nitrogen oxides is crucial for the formation of the ozone hole. TROPOMI satellite measurements of nitrogen dioxide reveal the presence of a not dissimilar "nitrogen hole" that largely coincides with the ozone hole. Three very distinct regimes were identified: inside and outside the ozone hole and the transition zone in between. Our results introduce a valuable and innovative application highly relevant for Antarctic ozone hole and ozone layer recovery.
Pinchas Nürnberg, Markus Rettinger, and Ralf Sussmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3743–3757, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3743-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3743-2024, 2024
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For a better understanding of stratospheric photochemistry, we analyzed long-term data from spectroscopic measurements at Zugspitze and Garmisch, Germany. We provide information about the seasonal cycle of diurnal nitrogen oxide variation in the stratosphere. For the first time we create an experimental data set to validate stratospheric model simulation that can improve satellite validation to gain further insights into ozone depletion and smog prevention.
Andrea Pazmiño, Florence Goutail, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Alain Hauchecorne, Jean-Pierre Pommereau, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Wuhu Feng, Franck Lefèvre, Audrey Lecouffe, Michel Van Roozendael, Nis Jepsen, Georg Hansen, Rigel Kivi, Kimberly Strong, and Kaley A. Walker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15655–15670, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15655-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15655-2023, 2023
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The vortex-averaged ozone loss over the last 3 decades is evaluated for both polar regions using the passive ozone tracer of the chemical transport model TOMCAT/SLIMCAT and total ozone observations from the SAOZ network and MSR2 reanalysis. Three metrics were developed to compute ozone trends since 2000. The study confirms the ozone recovery in the Antarctic and shows a potential sign of quantitative detection of ozone recovery in the Arctic that needs to be robustly confirmed in the future.
Emily N. Tinney and Cameron R. Homeyer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14375–14392, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14375-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14375-2023, 2023
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A long-term record of satellite observations is used to study extreme water vapor concentrations in the lower stratosphere, which are important to climate variability and change. We use a deeper layer of stratospheric observations than prior work to more comprehensively identify these events. We show that extreme water vapor concentrations are frequent, especially in the lowest layers of the stratosphere that have not been analyzed previously.
Monali Borthakur, Miriam Sinnhuber, Alexandra Laeng, Thomas Reddmann, Peter Braesicke, Gabriele Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Ilya Usoskin, Jan Maik Wissing, and Olesya Yakovchuk
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12985–13013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12985-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12985-2023, 2023
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Reduced ozone levels resulting from ozone depletion mean more exposure to UV radiation, which has various effects on human health. We analysed solar events to see what influence it has on the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere and how this atmospheric chemistry change can affect the ozone. To do this, we used an atmospheric model considering only chemistry and compared it with satellite data. The focus was mainly on the contribution of chlorine, and we found about 10 %–20 % ozone loss due to that.
Vitali Fioletov, Xiaoyi Zhao, Ihab Abboud, Michael Brohart, Akira Ogyu, Reno Sit, Sum Chi Lee, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Koji Miyagawa, Bryan J. Johnson, Patrick Cullis, John Booth, Glen McConville, and C. Thomas McElroy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12731–12751, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12731-2023, 2023
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Stratospheric ozone within the Southern Hemisphere springtime polar vortex has been a subject of intense research since the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. The wintertime ozone in the vortex is less studied. We show that the recent wintertime ozone values over the South Pole were about 12 % below the pre-1980s level; i.e., the decline there was nearly twice as large as that over southern midlatitudes. Thus, wintertime ozone there can be used as an indicator of the ozone layer state.
Jian Guan, Susan Solomon, Sasha Madronich, and Douglas Kinnison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10413–10422, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10413-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10413-2023, 2023
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This paper provides a novel method to obtain a global and accurate photodissociation coefficient for NO2 (J(NO2)) based on satellite data, and the results are shown to be consistent with model results. The J(NO2) value decreases as the solar zenith angle increases and has a weak altitude dependence. A key finding is that the satellite-derived J(NO2) increases in the polar regions, in good agreement with model predictions, due to the effects of ice and snow on surface albedo.
Ellis Remsberg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9637–9646, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9637-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9637-2023, 2023
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This study compares analysis of trends in stratospheric water vapor from the Halogen Occultation Experiment satellite instrument with those from local frost-point hygrometers (FPHs) at 30 and 50 hPa over Boulder, Colorado (40°N), for 1993 to 2005. The FPH measurements are assumed correct. However, the seasonal sampling by HALOE is marginal from 2002 to 2005, such that its trends have a bias after 2001. Trend comparisons for 1993 to 2002 at 30 hPa agree within the uncertainties of both datasets.
Eric Sauvageat, Klemens Hocke, Eliane Maillard Barras, Shengyi Hou, Quentin Errera, Alexander Haefele, and Axel Murk
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7321–7345, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7321-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7321-2023, 2023
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In Switzerland, two microwave radiometers can measure continuous ozone profiles in the middle atmosphere. From these instruments, we can study the diurnal variation of ozone, which is difficult to observe otherwise. It is valuable to validate the model simulations of diurnal variations in this region. We present results obtained during the last decade and compare them against various models. For the first time, we also show that the winter diurnal variations have some short-term fluctuations.
Paul S. Jeffery, Kaley A. Walker, Chris E. Sioris, Chris D. Boone, Doug Degenstein, Gloria L. Manney, C. Thomas McElroy, Luis Millán, David A. Plummer, Niall J. Ryan, Patrick E. Sheese, and Jiansheng Zou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14709–14734, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14709-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14709-2022, 2022
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The upper troposphere–lower stratosphere is one of the most variable regions in the atmosphere. To improve our understanding of water vapour and ozone concentrations in this region, climatologies have been developed from 14 years of measurements from three Canadian satellite instruments. Horizontal and vertical coordinates have been chosen to minimize the effects of variability. To aid in analysis, model simulations have been used to characterize differences between instrument climatologies.
Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Niramson Azouz, Viktoria F. Sofieva, Daan Hubert, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Peter Effertz, Gérard Ancellet, Doug A. Degenstein, Daniel Zawada, Lucien Froidevaux, Stacey Frith, Jeannette Wild, Sean Davis, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Thierry Leblanc, Richard Querel, Kleareti Tourpali, Robert Damadeo, Eliane Maillard Barras, René Stübi, Corinne Vigouroux, Carlo Arosio, Gerald Nedoluha, Ian Boyd, Roeland Van Malderen, Emmanuel Mahieu, Dan Smale, and Ralf Sussmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11657–11673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11657-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11657-2022, 2022
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An updated evaluation up to 2020 of stratospheric ozone profile long-term trends at extrapolar latitudes based on satellite and ground-based records is presented. Ozone increase in the upper stratosphere is confirmed, with significant trends at most latitudes. In this altitude region, a very good agreement is found with trends derived from chemistry–climate model simulations. Observed and modelled trends diverge in the lower stratosphere, but the differences are non-significant.
Catherine Wespes, Gaetane Ronsmans, Lieven Clarisse, Susan Solomon, Daniel Hurtmans, Cathy Clerbaux, and Pierre-François Coheur
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10993–11007, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10993-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10993-2022, 2022
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The first 10-year data record (2008–2017) of HNO3 total columns measured by the IASI-A/MetOp infrared sounder is exploited to monitor the relationship between the temperature decrease and the HNO3 loss observed each year in the Antarctic stratosphere during the polar night. We verify the recurrence of specific regimes in the cycle of IASI HNO3 and identify the day and the 50 hPa temperature (
drop temperature) corresponding to the onset of denitrification in Antarctic winter for each year.
Mark Weber, Carlo Arosio, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Jeannette D. Wild, Kleareti Tourpali, John P. Burrows, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6843–6859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, 2022
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Long-term trends in column ozone have been determined from five merged total ozone datasets spanning the period 1978–2020. We show that ozone recovery due to the decline in stratospheric halogens after the 1990s (as regulated by the Montreal Protocol) is evident outside the tropical region and amounts to half a percent per decade. The ozone recovery in the Northern Hemisphere is however compensated for by the negative long-term trend contribution from atmospheric dynamics since the year 2000.
Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Diego G. Loyola, Christophe Lerot, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6861–6878, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6861-2022, 2022
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Monitoring the long-term evolution of ozone and the evaluation of trends is essential to assess the efficacy of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. The first signs of recovery as a consequence of decreasing amounts of ozone-depleting substances have been reported, but the impact needs to be investigated in more detail. In the Southern Hemisphere significant positive trends were found, but in the Northern Hemisphere the expected increase is still not yet visible.
Lucien Froidevaux, Douglas E. Kinnison, Michelle L. Santee, Luis F. Millán, Nathaniel J. Livesey, William G. Read, Charles G. Bardeen, John J. Orlando, and Ryan A. Fuller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4779–4799, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4779-2022, 2022
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We analyze satellite-derived distributions of chlorine monoxide (ClO) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in the upper atmosphere. For 2005–2020, from 50°S to 50°N and over ~30 to 45 km, ClO and HOCl decreased by −0.7 % and −0.4 % per year, respectively. A detailed model of chemistry and dynamics agrees with the results. These decreases confirm the effectiveness of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which limited emissions of chlorine- and bromine-containing source gases, in order to protect the ozone layer.
Florian Haenel, Wolfgang Woiwode, Jennifer Buchmüller, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Michael Höpfner, Sören Johansson, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Oliver Kirner, Anne Kleinert, Hermann Oelhaf, Johannes Orphal, Roland Ruhnke, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Jörn Ungermann, Michael Weimer, and Peter Braesicke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2843–2870, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2843-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2843-2022, 2022
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We compare remote sensing observations of H2O, O3, HNO3 and clouds in the upper troposphere–lowermost stratosphere during an Arctic winter long-range research flight with simulations by two different state-of-the-art model systems. We find good agreement for dynamical structures, trace gas distributions and clouds. We investigate model biases and sensitivities, with the goal of aiding model development and improving our understanding of processes in the upper troposphere–lowermost stratosphere.
Sandip S. Dhomse, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Wuhu Feng, Ryan Hossaini, Graham W. Mann, Michelle L. Santee, and Mark Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 903–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-903-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-903-2022, 2022
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Solar flux variations associated with 11-year sunspot cycle is believed to exert important external climate forcing. As largest variations occur at shorter wavelengths such as ultra-violet part of the solar spectrum, associated changes in stratospheric ozone are thought to provide direct evidence for solar climate interaction. Until now, most of the studies reported double-peak structured solar cycle signal (SCS), but relatively new satellite data suggest only single-peak-structured SCS.
Jānis Puķīte, Christian Borger, Steffen Dörner, Myojeong Gu, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 245–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-245-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-245-2022, 2022
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Chlorine dioxide (OClO) is an indicator for chlorine activation. New OClO data by TROPOMI (S5P) are interpreted in a meteorological context and related to CALIOP PSC observations. We report very high OClO levels for the northern hemispheric winter 2019/20 with an extraordinarily long period with a stable polar vortex. A minor stratospheric warming in the Southern Hemisphere was also observed in September 2019, where usual OClO values rapidly deactivated 1–2 weeks earlier.
Michael Höpfner, Oliver Kirner, Gerald Wetzel, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Florian Haenel, Sören Johansson, Johannes Orphal, Roland Ruhnke, Gabriele Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18433–18464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18433-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18433-2021, 2021
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BrONO2 is an important reservoir gas for inorganic stratospheric bromine linked to the chemical cycles of stratospheric ozone depletion. Presently infrared limb sounding is the only way to measure BrONO2 in the atmosphere. We provide global distributions of BrONO2 derived from MIPAS observations 2002–2012. Comparisons with EMAC atmospheric modelling show an overall agreement and enable us to derive an independent estimate of stratospheric bromine of 21.2±1.4pptv based on the BrONO2 measurements.
Hugh C. Pumphrey, Michael J. Schwartz, Michelle L. Santee, George P. Kablick III, Michael D. Fromm, and Nathaniel J. Livesey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16645–16659, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16645-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16645-2021, 2021
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Forest fires in British Columbia in August 2017 caused an unusual phenomonon: smoke and gases from the fires rose quickly to a height of 10 km. From there, the pollution continued to rise more slowly for many weeks, travelling around the world as it did so. In this paper, we describe how we used data from a satellite instrument to observe this polluted volume of air. The satellite has now been working for 16 years but has observed only three events of this type.
Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath, Wuhu Feng, Rolf Müller, Pankaj Kumar, Sarath Raj, Gopalakrishna Pillai Gopikrishnan, and Raina Roy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14019–14037, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14019-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14019-2021, 2021
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The Arctic winter/spring 2020 was one of the coldest with a strong and long-lasting vortex, high chlorine activation, severe denitrification, and unprecedented ozone loss. The loss was even equal to the levels of some of the warm Antarctic winters. Total column ozone values below 220 DU for several weeks and ozone loss saturation were observed during the period. These results show an unusual meteorology and warrant dedicated studies on the impact of climate change on ozone loss.
Roeland Van Malderen, Dirk De Muer, Hugo De Backer, Deniz Poyraz, Willem W. Verstraeten, Veerle De Bock, Andy W. Delcloo, Alexander Mangold, Quentin Laffineur, Marc Allaart, Frans Fierens, and Valérie Thouret
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12385–12411, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12385-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12385-2021, 2021
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The main aim of initiating measurements of the vertical distribution of the ozone concentration by means of ozonesondes attached to weather balloons at Uccle in 1969 was to improve weather forecasts. Since then, this measurement technique has barely changed, but the dense, long-term, and homogeneous Uccle dataset currently remains crucial for studying the temporal evolution of ozone from the surface to the stratosphere and is also the backbone of the validation of satellite ozone retrievals.
Lily N. Zhang, Susan Solomon, Kane A. Stone, Jonathan D. Shanklin, Joshua D. Eveson, Steve Colwell, John P. Burrows, Mark Weber, Pieternel F. Levelt, Natalya A. Kramarova, and David P. Haffner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9829–9838, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9829-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9829-2021, 2021
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In the 1980s, measurements at the British Antarctic Survey station in Halley, Antarctica, led to the discovery of the ozone hole. The Halley total ozone record continues to be uniquely valuable for studies of long-term changes in Antarctic ozone. Environmental conditions in 2017 forced a temporary cessation of operations, leading to a gap in the historic record. We develop and test a method for filling in the Halley record using satellite data and find evidence to further support ozone recovery.
Gerald Wetzel, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Norbert Glatthor, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Thomas Gulde, Michael Höpfner, Sören Johansson, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Oliver Kirner, Anne Kleinert, Erik Kretschmer, Guido Maucher, Hans Nordmeyer, Hermann Oelhaf, Johannes Orphal, Christof Piesch, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Jörn Ungermann, and Bärbel Vogel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8213–8232, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8213-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8213-2021, 2021
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Measurements of the pollutants C2H6, C2H2, HCOOH, and PAN were performed in the North Atlantic UTLS region with the airborne limb imager GLORIA in 2017. Enhanced amounts of these species were detected in the upper troposphere and even in the lowermost stratosphere (PAN). Main sources of these gases are forest fires in North America and anthropogenic pollution in South Asia. Simulations of EMAC and CAMS are qualitatively able to reproduce the measured data but underestimate the absolute amounts.
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Monika Szeląg, Johanna Tamminen, Erkki Kyrölä, Doug Degenstein, Chris Roth, Daniel Zawada, Alexei Rozanov, Carlo Arosio, John P. Burrows, Mark Weber, Alexandra Laeng, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Lucien Froidevaux, Nathaniel Livesey, Michel van Roozendael, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6707–6720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6707-2021, 2021
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The MErged GRIdded Dataset of Ozone Profiles is a long-term (2001–2018) stratospheric ozone profile climate data record with resolved longitudinal structure that combines the data from six limb satellite instruments. The dataset can be used for various analyses, some of which are discussed in the paper. In particular, regionally and vertically resolved ozone trends are evaluated, including trends in the polar regions.
Greg E. Bodeker and Stefanie Kremser
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5289–5300, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5289-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5289-2021, 2021
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This paper presents measures of the severity of the Antarctic ozone hole covering the period 1979 to 2019. The paper shows that while the severity of Antarctic ozone depletion grew rapidly through the last two decades of the 20th century, the severity declined thereafter and faster than expected from declines in stratospheric concentrations of the chlorine- and bromine-containing chemical compounds that destroy ozone.
Emily M. Gordon, Annika Seppälä, Bernd Funke, Johanna Tamminen, and Kaley A. Walker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2819–2836, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2819-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2819-2021, 2021
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Energetic particle precipitation (EPP) is the rain of solar energetic particles into the Earth's atmosphere. EPP is known to deplete O3 in the polar mesosphere–upper stratosphere via the formation of NOx. NOx also causes chlorine deactivation in the lower stratosphere and has, thus, been proposed to potentially result in reduced ozone depletion in the spring. We provide the first evidence to show that NOx formed by EPP is able to remove active chlorine, resulting in enhanced total ozone column.
Stefan Brönnimann and Sylvia Nichol
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14333–14346, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14333-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14333-2020, 2020
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Historical column ozone data from New Zealand and the UK from the 1950s are digitised and re-evaluated. They allow studying the ozone layer prior to the era of ozone depletion. Day-to-day changes are addressed, which reflect the flow near the tropopause and hence may serve as a diagnostic for atmospheric circulation in a time and region of sparse radiosondes. A long-term comparison shows the amount of ozone depletion at southern mid-latitudes and indicates how far we are from full recovery.
Eliane Maillard Barras, Alexander Haefele, Liliane Nguyen, Fiona Tummon, William T. Ball, Eugene V. Rozanov, Rolf Rüfenacht, Klemens Hocke, Leonie Bernet, Niklaus Kämpfer, Gerald Nedoluha, and Ian Boyd
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8453–8471, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8453-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8453-2020, 2020
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To determine the part of the variability of the long-term ozone profile trends coming from measurement timing, we estimate microwave radiometer trends for each hour of the day with a multiple linear regression model. The variation in the trend with local solar time is not significant at the 95 % confidence level either in the stratosphere or in the low mesosphere. We conclude that systematic sampling differences between instruments cannot explain significant differences in trend estimates.
Ellis Remsberg, V. Lynn Harvey, Arlin Krueger, Larry Gordley, John C. Gille, and James M. Russell III
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3663–3668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3663-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3663-2020, 2020
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The Nimbus 7 limb infrared monitor of the stratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from October 25, 1978, through May 28, 1979. This note focuses on the lower stratosphere of the southern hemisphere, subpolar regions in relation to the position of the polar vortex. Both LIMS ozone and nitric acid show reductions within the edge of the polar vortex at 46 hPa near 60° S from late October through mid-November 1978, indicating that there was a chemical loss of Antarctic ozone some weeks earlier.
Hideaki Nakajima, Isao Murata, Yoshihiro Nagahama, Hideharu Akiyoshi, Kosuke Saeki, Takeshi Kinase, Masanori Takeda, Yoshihiro Tomikawa, Eric Dupuy, and Nicholas B. Jones
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1043–1074, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1043-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1043-2020, 2020
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This paper presents temporal evolution of stratospheric chlorine and minor species related to Antarctic ozone depletion, based on FTIR measurements at Syowa Station, and satellite measurements by MLS and MIPAS in 2007 and 2011. After chlorine reservoir species were processed on PSCs and active ClO was formed, different chlorine deactivation pathways into reservoir species were identified, depending on the relative location of Syowa Station to the polar vortex boundary.
Catherine Wespes, Daniel Hurtmans, Simon Chabrillat, Gaétane Ronsmans, Cathy Clerbaux, and Pierre-François Coheur
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14031–14056, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14031-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14031-2019, 2019
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This paper highlights the global fingerprint of recent changes in O3 in both the middle–upper and lower stratosphere from the first 10 years of the IASI/Metop-A satellite measurements. The results present the first detection of a significant O3 recovery at middle–high latitudes in winter–spring in the stratosphere as well as in the total column from one single dataset. They also show a speeding up in the recovery at high southern latitudes contrasting with a decline at northern mid-latitudes.
Marleen Braun, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Wolfgang Woiwode, Sören Johansson, Michael Höpfner, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Hermann Oelhaf, Peter Preusse, Jörn Ungermann, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Helmut Ziereis, and Peter Braesicke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 13681–13699, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13681-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13681-2019, 2019
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We analyse nitrification of the LMS in the Arctic winter 2015–2016 based on GLORIA measurements. Vertical cross sections of HNO3 for several flights show complex fine–scale structures and enhanced values down to 9 km. The extent of overall nitrification is quantified based on HNO3–O3 correlations and reaches between 5 ppbv and 7 ppbv at potential temperature levels between 350 and 380 K. Further, we compare our result with the atmospheric model CLaMS.
Maxime Prignon, Simon Chabrillat, Daniele Minganti, Simon O'Doherty, Christian Servais, Gabriele Stiller, Geoffrey C. Toon, Martin K. Vollmer, and Emmanuel Mahieu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12309–12324, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12309-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12309-2019, 2019
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Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are the first, but temporary, substitution products for the strong ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). In this work, we present and validate an improved method to retrieve the most abundant HCFC in the atmosphere, allowing its evolution to be monitored independently in the troposphere and stratosphere. These kinds of contributions are fundamental for scrutinizing the fulfilment of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Yves J. Rochon, Michael Sitwell, and Young-Min Cho
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9431–9451, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9431-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9431-2019, 2019
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This paper describes adaptable methodologies and results of bias correction applied for the assimilation of total column ozone data from different satellite instruments. The results demonstrate the capability of ensuring short-term forecast biases of total column ozone to be typically within 1 % of a reference for latitudinal ranges where measurements are available. The bias estimation and correction software can be utilized for measurements of other constituents.
Sören Johansson, Michelle L. Santee, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Michael Höpfner, Marleen Braun, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Oliver Kirner, Erik Kretschmer, Hermann Oelhaf, Johannes Orphal, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Ines Tritscher, Jörn Ungermann, Kaley A. Walker, and Wolfgang Woiwode
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8311–8338, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8311-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8311-2019, 2019
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We present a study based on GLORIA aircraft and MLS/ACE-FTS/CALIOP satellite measurements during the Arctic winter 2015/16, which demonstrate (for the Arctic) unusual chlorine deactivation into HCl instead of ClONO2 due to low ozone abundances in the lowermost stratosphere, with a focus at 380 K potential temperature. The atmospheric models CLaMS and EMAC are evaluated, and measured ClONO2 is linked with transport and in situ deactivation in the lowermost stratosphere.
Evgenia Galytska, Alexey Rozanov, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Sandip. S. Dhomse, Mark Weber, Carlo Arosio, Wuhu Feng, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 767–783, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-767-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-767-2019, 2019
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In this study we analysed ozone changes in the tropical mid-stratosphere as observed by the SCIAMACHY instrument during 2004–2012. We used simulations from TOMCAT model with different chemical and dynamical forcings to reveal primary causes of ozone changes. We also considered measured NO2 and modelled NOx, NOx, and N2O data. With modelled AoA data we identified seasonal changes in the upwelling speed and explained how those changes affect N2O chemistry which leads to observed ozone changes.
Debora Griffin, Kaley A. Walker, Ingo Wohltmann, Sandip S. Dhomse, Markus Rex, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Wuhu Feng, Gloria L. Manney, Jane Liu, and David Tarasick
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 577–601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-577-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-577-2019, 2019
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Ozone in the stratosphere is important to protect the Earth from UV radiation. Using measurements taken by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment satellite between 2005 and 2013, we examine different methods to calculate the ozone loss in the high Arctic and establish the altitude at which most of the ozone is destroyed. Our results show that the different methods agree within the uncertainties. Recommendations are made on which methods are most appropriate to use.
Jiali Luo, Laura L. Pan, Shawn B. Honomichl, John W. Bergman, William J. Randel, Gene Francis, Cathy Clerbaux, Maya George, Xiong Liu, and Wenshou Tian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12511–12530, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12511-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12511-2018, 2018
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We analyze upper tropospheric CO and O3 using satellite data from limb-viewing (MLS) and nadir-viewing (IASI and OMI) sensors, together with dynamical variables, to examine how the two types of data complement each other in representing the chemical variability associated with the day-to-day dynamical variability in the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone. The results provide new observational evidence of eddy shedding in upper tropospheric CO distribution.
Richard S. Stolarski, Anne R. Douglass, and Susan E. Strahan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5691–5697, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5691-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5691-2018, 2018
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Detecting trends in short data sets of stratospheric molecules is difficult because of variability due to dynamical fluctuations. We suggest that one way around this difficulty is using the measurements of one molecule to remove dynamical variability from the measurements of another molecule. We illustrate this using Aura MLS measurements of N2O to help us sort out issues in the determination of trends in HCl. This shows that HCl is decreasing throughout the middle stratosphere as expected.
Erkki Kyrölä, Monika E. Andersson, Pekka T. Verronen, Marko Laine, Simo Tukiainen, and Daniel R. Marsh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5001–5019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5001-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5001-2018, 2018
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In this work we compare three key constituents of the middle atmosphere (ozone, NO2, and NO3) from the GOMOS satellite instrument with the WACCM model. We find that in the stratosphere (below 50 km) ozone differences are very small, but in the mesosphere large deviations are found. GOMOS and WACCM NO2 agree reasonably well except in the polar areas. These differences can be connected to the solar particle storms. For NO3, WACCM results agree with GOMOS with a very high correlation.
Martine De Mazière, Anne M. Thompson, Michael J. Kurylo, Jeannette D. Wild, Germar Bernhard, Thomas Blumenstock, Geir O. Braathen, James W. Hannigan, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Thierry Leblanc, Thomas J. McGee, Gerald Nedoluha, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Gunther Seckmeyer, Paul C. Simon, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, and Susan E. Strahan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4935–4964, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4935-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4935-2018, 2018
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This paper serves as an introduction to the special issue "Twenty-five years of operations of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC)". It describes the origins of the network, its actual status, and some perspectives for its future evolution in the context of atmospheric sciences.
Gaétane Ronsmans, Catherine Wespes, Daniel Hurtmans, Cathy Clerbaux, and Pierre-François Coheur
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4403–4423, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4403-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4403-2018, 2018
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The paper aims at understanding the variability of nitric acid (HNO3) in the stratosphere; 9-year time series of IASI measurements are analysed and, for the first time for HNO3, fitted with regression models in order to identify the factors at play. It was found that the annual variability is the main driver and that the polar stratospheric clouds influence greatly HNO3 variability at polar latitudes. The results show the potential of such analyses to better understand the polar processes.
Franziska Schranz, Susana Fernandez, Niklaus Kämpfer, and Mathias Palm
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4113–4130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4113-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4113-2018, 2018
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We present 1 year of ozone measurements form two ground-based microwave radiometers located at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The ozone measurements cover an altitude range of 25–70 km altitude and have a high time resolution of 1–2 h. With these datasets and model data a comprehensive analysis of the ozone diurnal cycle in the Arctic is performed for the different insolation conditions throughout the year. In the stratosphere we find a diurnal cycle which persists over the whole polar day.
Mark Weber, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Jeannette D. Wild, John P. Burrows, Craig S. Long, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2097–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2097-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2097-2018, 2018
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This paper commemorates the 30-year anniversary of the initial signing of the Montreal Protocol (MP) on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The MP is so far successful in reducing ozone-depleting substances, and total ozone decline was successfully stopped by the late 1990s. Total ozone levels have been mostly stable since then. In some regions, barely significant upward trends are observed that suggest an emergence into the expected ozone recovery phase.
Robert P. Damadeo, Joseph M. Zawodny, Ellis E. Remsberg, and Kaley A. Walker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 535–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-535-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-535-2018, 2018
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An ozone trend analysis that compensates for sampling biases is applied to sparsely sampled occultation data sets. International assessments have noted deficiencies in past trend analyses and this work addresses those sources of uncertainty. The nonuniform sampling patterns in data sets and drifts between data sets can affect derived recovery trends by up to 2 % decade−1. The limitations inherent to all techniques are also described and a potential path forward towards resolution is presented.
Gerald Wetzel, Hermann Oelhaf, Michael Höpfner, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Andreas Ebersoldt, Thomas Gulde, Sebastian Kazarski, Oliver Kirner, Anne Kleinert, Guido Maucher, Hans Nordmeyer, Johannes Orphal, Roland Ruhnke, and Björn-Martin Sinnhuber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14631–14643, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14631-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14631-2017, 2017
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We report the first stratospheric measurements of the diurnal variation in the inorganic bromine (Bry) reservoir species BrONO2 around sunrise and sunset. The main goal of these observations was to check the current understanding of stratospheric bromine chemistry and to estimate the amount of lower-stratospheric Bry. The calculated temporal variation in BrONO2 largely reproduces the balloon-borne observations. The amount of Bry was estimated to be about 21–25 pptv in the lower stratosphere.
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Short summary
From satellite data for nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone and temperature, we calculate the monthly loss of N2O and find it is increasing faster than expected, resulting in a shorter lifetime, which reduces the impact of anthropogenic emissions. We identify the cause as enhanced vertical lofting of high-N2O air into the tropical middle stratosphere, where it is destroyed photochemically. Because global warming is due in part to N2O, this finding presents a new negative climate-chemistry feedback.
From satellite data for nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone and temperature, we calculate the monthly...
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