Rossby-gravity waves in tropical total ozone data

Evidence for Rossby-gravity waves in tropical data fields produced by the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) was recently reported. Similar features are observable in fields of total column ozone from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite instrument. The observed features are episodic, have zonal (east-west) wavelengths of 6,000-10,000 km, and oscillate with periods of 5-10 days. In accord with simple linear theory, the modes exhibit westward phase progression and eastward group velocity. The significance of finding Rossby-gravity waves in total ozone fields is that (1) the report of similar features in ECMWF tropical fields is corroborated with an independent data set and (2) the TOMS data set is demonstrated to possess surprising versatility and sensitivity to relatively smaller scale tropical phenomena

Kelvin waves in total column ozone

Tropical Kelvin waves have been observed previously in ozone mixing ratio data from the SBUV (Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet) and LIMS (Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere) instruments on board the Nimbus-7 satellite. Kelvin wave features in total column ozone, using version 6 data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument (also on board Nimbus-7) are investigated. Results show eastward-propagating zonal waves 1-2 with periods approximately 5-15 days, amplitudes approximately 3-5 DU, and latitudinal symmetry typical of Kelvin waves. A simplified model calculation suggests that the primary source for the perturbations is slow Kelvin waves in the lower-to-middle stratosphere. Maximum Kelvin wave signatures occur in conjunction with westward lower-to-middle stratospheric equatorial zonal winds (a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) wind modulation effect)

Development of a climate record of tropospheric and stratospheric column ozone from satellite remote sensing: evidence of an early recovery of global stratospheric ozone

Ozone data beginning October 2004 from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are used to evaluate the accuracy of the Cloud Slicing technique in effort to develop long data records of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and for studying their long-term changes. Using this technique, we have produced a 32-yr (1979–2010) long record of tropospheric and stratospheric column ozone from the combined Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and OMI. Analyses of these time series suggest that the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is the dominant source of inter-annual variability of stratospheric ozone and is clearest in the Southern Hemisphere during the Aura time record with related inter-annual changes of 30–40 Dobson Units. Tropospheric ozone for the long record also indicates a QBO signal in the tropics with peak-to-peak changes varying from 2 to 7 DU. The most important result from our study is that global stratospheric ozone indicates signature of a recovery occurring with ozone abundance now approaching the levels of year 1980 and earlier. The negative trends in stratospheric ozone in both hemispheres during the first 15 yr of the record are now positive over the last 15 yr and with nearly equal magnitudes. This turnaround in stratospheric ozone loss is occurring about 20 yr earlier than predicted by many chemistry climate models. This suggests that the Montreal Protocol which was first signed in 1987 as an international agreement to reduce ozone destroying substances is working well and perhaps better than anticipated

Seasonal and Interannual Variabilities in Tropical Tropospheric Ozone

This paper presents a detailed characterization of seasonal and interannual variability in tropical tropospheric column ozone (TCO). TCO time series are derived from 20 years (1979-1998) of total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) data using the convective cloud differential (CCD) method. Our study identifies three regions in the tropics with distinctly different zonal characteristics related to seasonal and interannual variability. These three regions are the eastern Pacific, Atlantic, and western Pacific. Results show that in both the eastern and western Pacific seasonal-cycle variability of northern hemisphere (NH) TCO exhibits maximum amount during NH spring whereas largest amount in southern hemisphere (SH) TCO occurs during SH spring. In the Atlantic, maximum TCO in both hemispheres occurs in SH spring. These seasonal cycles are shown to be comparable to seasonal cycles present in ground-based ozonesonde measurements. Interannual variability in the Atlantic region indicates a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) signal that is out of phase with the QBO present in stratospheric column ozone (SCO). This is consistent with high pollution and high concentrations of mid-to-upper tropospheric O3-producing precursors in this region. The out of phase relation suggests a UV modulation of tropospheric photochemistry caused by the QBO in stratospheric O3. During El Nino events there is anomalously low TCO in the eastern Pacific and high values in the western Pacific, indicating the effects of convectively-driven transport of low-value boundary layer O3 (reducing TCO) and O3 precursors including H2O and OH. A simplified technique is proposed to derive high-resolution maps of TCO in the tropics even in the absence of tropopause-level clouds. This promising approach requires only total ozone gridded measurements and utilizes the small variability observed in TCO near the dateline. This technique has an advantage compared to the CCD method because the latter requires high-resolution footprint measurements of both reflectivity and total ozone in the presence of tropopause-level cloud tops

Spectral analyses, climatology, and interannual variability of Nimbus-7 TOMS version 6 total column ozone

This reference publication presents selected results from space-time spectral analyses of 13 years of version 6 daily global ozone fields from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). One purpose is to illustrate more quantitatively the well-known richness of structure and variation in total ozone. A second purpose is to provide, for use by modelers and for comparison with other analysts' work, quantitative measures of zonal waves 1, 2, 3, and medium-scale waves 4-7 in total ozone. Their variations throughout the year and at a variety of latitudes are presented, from equatorial to polar regions. The 13-year averages are given, along with selected individual years which illustrate year-to-year variability. The largest long wave amplitudes occur in the polar winters and early springs of each hemisphere, and are related to strong wave amplification during major warning events. In low attitudes total ozone wave amplitudes are an order of magnitude smaller than at high latitudes. However, TOMS fields contain a number of equatorial dynamical features, including Rossby-gravity and Kelvin waves

Effects of the 2006 El Nino on Tropospheric Ozone and Carbon Monoxide: Implications for Dynamics and Biomass Burning

We have studied the effects of the 2006 El Nino on tropospheric O3 and CO at tropical and sub-tropical latitudes measured from the OMI and MLS instruments on the Aura satellite. The 2006 El Nino-induced drought allowed forest fires set to clear land to burn out of control during October and November in the Indonesian region. The effects of these fires are clearly seen in the enhancement of GO concentration measured from the MLS instrument. We have used a global model of atmospheric chemistry and transport (GMI CTM) to quantify the relative irrrportance of biomass burning and large scale transport: in producing observed changes in tropospheric O3 and CO . The model results show that during October and November both biomass burning and meteorological changes contributed almost equally to the observed increase in tropospheric O3 in the Indonesian region. The biomass component was 4-6 DU but it was limited to the Indonesian region where the fires were most intense, The dynamical component was 4-8 DU but it covered a much larger area in the Indian Ocean extending from South East Asia in the north to western Australia in the south. By December 2006, the effect of biomass taming was reduced to zero and the obsemed changes in tropospheric O3 were mostly due to dynamical effects. The model results show an increase of 2-3% in the global burden of tropospheric ozone. In comparison, the global burdean of CO increased by 8-12%

The Response of Tropospheric Ozone to ENSO in Observations and a Chemistry-Climate Simulation

The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant mode of tropical variability on interannual time scales. ENSO appears to extend its influence into the chemical composition of the tropical troposphere. Recent results have revealed an ENSO induced wave-l anomaly in observed tropical tropospheric column ozone. This results in a dipole over the western and eastern tropical Pacific, whereby differencing the two regions produces an ozone anomaly with an extremely high correlation to the Nino 3.4 Index. We have successfully reproduced this result using the Goddard Earth Observing System Version 5 (GEOS-5) general circulation model coupled to a comprehensive stratospheric and tropospheric chemical mechanism forced with observed sea surface temperatures over the past 25 years. An examination of the modeled ozone field reveals the vertical contributions of tropospheric ozone to the column over the western and eastern Pacific region. We will show targeted comparisons with observations from NASA's Aura satellite Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), and the Tropospheric Emissions Spectrometer (TES) to provide insight into the vertical structure of ozone changes. The tropospheric ozone response to ENSO could be a useful chemistry-climate model evaluation tool and should be considered in future modeling assessments

The Response of Tropical Tropospheric Ozone to ENSO

We have successfully reproduced the Ozone ENSO Index (OEI) in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) chemistry-climate model (CCM) forced by observed sea surface temperatures over a 25-year period. The vertical ozone response to ENSO is consistent with changes in the Walker circulation. We derive the sensitivity of simulated ozone to ENSO variations using linear regression analysis. The western Pacific and Indian Ocean region shows similar positive ozone sensitivities from the surface to the upper troposphere, in response to positive anomalies in the Nino 3.4 Index. The eastern and central Pacific region shows negative sensitivities with the largest sensitivity in the upper troposphere. This vertical response compares well with that derived from SHADOZ ozonesondes in each region. The OEI reveals a response of tropospheric ozone to circulation change that is nearly independent of changes in emissions and thus it is potentially useful in chemistry-climate model evaluation

Effects of the 2004 El Nino on Tropospheric Ozone and Water Vapor

The global effects of the 2004 El Nino on tropospheric ozone and H2O based on Aura OM1 and MLS measurements are analyzed. Although it was a weak El Nino from a historical perspective, it produced significant changes in these parameters in tropical latitudes. Tropospheric ozone increased by 10-20% over most of the western Pacific region and decreased by about the same amount over the eastern Pacific region. H2O in the upper troposphere showed similar changes but with opposite sign. These zonal changes in tropospheric ozone and H2O are caused by the eastward shift in the Walker circulation in the tropical pacific region during El Nino. For the 2004 El Nino, biomass burning did not have a significant effect on the ozone budget in the troposphere unlike the 1997 El Nino. Zonally averaged tropospheric column ozone did not change significantly either globally or over the tropical and subtropical latitudes

Highlights from the 11-Year Record of Tropospheric Ozone from OMI/MLS and Continuation of that Long Record Using OMPS Measurements

Since October 2004 the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) onboard the Aura satellite have provided over 11 years of continuous tropospheric ozone measurements. These OMI/MLS measurements have been used in many studies to evaluate dynamical and photochemical effects caused by ENSO, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and shorter timescales, as well as long-term trends and the effects of deep convection on tropospheric ozone. Given that the OMI and MLS instruments have now extended well beyond their expected lifetimes, our goal is to continue their long record of tropospheric ozone using recent Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) measurements. The OMPS onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership NPP satellite was launched on October 28, 2011 and is comprised of three instruments: the nadir mapper, the nadir profiler, and the limb profiler. Our study combines total column ozone from the OMPS nadir mapper with stratospheric column ozone from the OMPS limb profiler to measure tropospheric ozone residual. The time period for the OMPS measurements is March 2012 present. For the OMPS limb profiler retrievals, the OMPS v2 algorithm from Goddard is tested against the University of Saskatchewan (USask) Algorithm. The retrieved ozone profiles from each of these algorithms are evaluated with ozone profiles from both ozonesondes and the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). Effects on derived OMPS tropospheric ozone caused by the 2015-2016 El Nino event are highlighted. This recent El Nino produced anomalies in tropospheric ozone throughout the tropical Pacific involving increases of approximately 10 DU over Indonesia and decreases approximately 5-10 DU in the eastern Pacific. These changes in ozone due to El Nino were predominantly dynamically-induced, caused by the eastward shift in sea-surface temperature and convection from the western to the eastern Pacific