19 research outputs found
On instrumental errors and related correction strategies of ozonesondes: possible effect on calculated ozone trends for the nearby sites Uccle and De Bilt
The ozonesonde stations at Uccle (Belgium) and De Bilt (the
Netherlands) are separated by only 175 km but use different ozonesonde
types (or different manufacturers for the same electrochemical concentration
cell (ECC) type), operating procedures, and correction
strategies. As such, these stations form a unique test bed for the Ozonesonde
Data Quality Assessment (O3S-DQA) activity, which aims at providing a
revised, homogeneous, consistent dataset with an altitude-dependent estimated
uncertainty for each revised profile. For the ECC ozonesondes at Uccle mean
relative uncertainties in the 4–6 % range are obtained. To study the
impact of the corrections on the ozone profiles and trends, we compared the
Uccle and De Bilt average ozone profiles and vertical ozone trends,
calculated from the operational corrections at both stations and the O3S-DQA
corrected profiles.
In the common ECC 1997–2014 period, the O3S-DQA corrections effectively
reduce the differences between the Uccle and De Bilt ozone partial pressure
values with respect to the operational corrections only for the stratospheric
layers below the ozone maximum. The upper-stratospheric ozone measurements at both sites are substantially different, regardless of the correction methodology used. The origin of this difference is not clear. The discrepancies in the
tropospheric ozone concentrations between both sites can be ascribed to the
problematic background measurement and correction at De Bilt, especially in
the period before November 1998. The Uccle operational correction method,
applicable to both ozonesonde types used, diminishes the relative
stratospheric ozone differences of the Brewer–Mast sondes in the 1993–1996
period with De Bilt to less than 5 % and to less than 6 % in the
free troposphere for the De Bilt operational corrections.
Despite their large impact on the average ozone profiles, the different
(sensible) correction strategies do not change the ozone trends
significantly, usually only within their statistical uncertainty due to
atmospheric noise. The O3S-DQA corrections bring the Uccle and De Bilt ozone
trend estimates for 1997–2014 closer to each other in the lower stratosphere
and lower troposphere. Throughout the whole vertical profile, these trend
estimates are, however, not significantly different from each other, and only
in the troposphere significantly positive. For the entire Uccle observation
period (1969–2014), the operational corrections lead to height-independent
and consistent ozone trends for both the troposphere and the stratosphere,
with rates of +2 to +3 % decade−1 and −1 to
−2 % decade−1, respectively
Vertical profiles and transport of ozone
A lidar system has been developed which is particularly suited for high resolution measurements of the ozone vertical distribution in the lower troposphere. This has been used for routine observations as well as for intensive measurement campaigns. An extensive dataset on the annual cycle of the ozone density in the lower troposphere has been collected, which confirms the persistently high ozone level in the free troposphere even during winter. The variability in this height regime is found rather small, which shows, that large scale processes are dominant here. The diurnal cycle of the boundary layer ozone in particular during episodes of enhanced ozone formation has been studied. The eddy correlation technique by remote sensing has been developed and applied successfully in a case study of the redistribution of ozone in the convective boundary layer. This method has been extended to estimate vertical profiles of ozone production rates in the boundary layer. Vertical transport terms were found important for the ozone budget over extended periods of time