Impacts of the solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 on the surface ozone concentration, the solar ultraviolet radiation and the meteorological parameters at Athens, Greece

International audienceIn this study the variations in the surface ozone concentration, the solar ultraviolet radiation and the meteorological parameters at the ground before, during and after the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 have been examined. This analysis is based on the measurements performed at four stations located in the greater Athens basin in Greece. The experimental data demonstrated that the solar eclipse phenomenon affects the surface ozone concentration as well as the temperature, the relative humidity and the wind speed near the ground. The decrease in the surface ozone concentration that observed after the beginning of the eclipse event lasted almost two hours, probably due to the decreased efficiency of the photochemical ozone formation. The reduction of the solar ultraviolet radiation at 312 and 365 nm reached 97% and 93% respectively, while the air temperature dropped, the relative humidity increased and the wind speed decreased

Long-memory processes in ozone and temperature variations at the region 60° S?60° N

International audienceGlobal column ozone and tropospheric temperature observations made by ground-based (1964?2004) and satellite-borne (1978?2004) instrumentation are analyzed. Ozone and temperature fluctuations in small time-intervals are found to be positively correlated to those in larger time-intervals in a power-law fashion. For temperature, the exponent of this dependence is larger in the mid-latitudes than in the tropics at long time scales, while for ozone, the exponent is larger in tropics than in the mid-latitudes. In general, greater persistence could be a result of either stronger positive feedbacks or larger inertia. Therefore, the increased slope of the power distribution of temperature in mid-latitudes at long time scales compared to the slope in the tropics could be connected to the poleward increase in climate sensitivity predicted by the global climate models. The detrended fluctuation analysis of model and observed time series provides a helpful tool for visualizing errors in the treatment of long-range correlations, whose correct modeling would greatly enhance confidence in long-term climate and atmospheric chemistry modeling

Impacts of the solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 on the surface ozone and nitrogen dioxide concentrations at Athens, Greece

International audienceThe behavior of surface ozone and nitrogen dioxide concentration as well as the variations in various meteorological parameters before, during and after the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 has been examined. This analysis is based on measurements performed at four stations located in the greater Athens basin in Greece. The experimental data demonstrated that the solar eclipse phenomenon affects the surface ozone and nitrogen dioxide concentrations as well as the temperature, the relative humidity and the wind speed near the ground. The reduction of the solar ultraviolet radiation at 312 and 365 nm reached 97% and 93% respectively, while the air temperature dropped, the relative humidity increased and the wind speed decreased. The percentage change (decrease) of surface ozone concentration was maximized one hour after the maximum phase of the eclipse due to the decreased efficiency of the photochemical ozone formation. The surface nitrogen dioxide concentration increased and the time lag of the nitrogen dioxide response to the solar eclipse was found to be different for each station. A plausible cause for the increase in NO2 concentration may be the conversion of NO to NO2 through reaction with pre-existing O3 along with the low photolysis rates of NO2 as a consequence of the decreased solar radiation during the solar eclipse event.In general, the time response to the eclipse phenomenon was different for each of the aforementioned parameters

Corrigendum to "A new modeling tool for the diffusion of gases in ice or amorphous binary mixture in the polar stratosphere and the upper troposphere" published in Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 3099–3105, 2010

No abstract available

Long-memory processes in global ozone and temperature variations

International audienceGlobal column ozone and tropospheric temperature observations made by ground-based (1964?2004) and satellite-borne (1978?2004) instrumentation are analyzed. Ozone and temperature fluctuations in small time-intervals are found to be positively correlated to those in larger time-intervals in a power-law fashion. For temperature, the exponent of this dependence is larger in the mid-latitudes than in the tropics at long time scales, while for ozone, the exponent is larger in tropics than in the mid-latitudes. The ability of the models to reproduce this scaling could be a good test for improved predictions of future variations in ozone layer and global warming

New spectral functions of the near-ground albedo derived from aircraft diffraction spectrometer observations

The airborne spectral observations of the upward and downward irradiances are revisited to investigate the dependence of the near-ground albedo as a function of wavelength in the entire solar spectrum for different surfaces (sand, water, snow) and under different conditions (clear or cloudy sky). The radiative upward and downward fluxes were determined by a diffraction spectrometer flown on a research aircraft that was performing multiple flight paths near the ground. The results obtained show that the near-ground albedo does not generally increase with increasing wavelengths for all kinds of surfaces as is widely believed today. Particularly, in the case of water surfaces it was found that the albedo in the ultraviolet region is more or less independent of the wavelength on a long-term basis. Interestingly, in the visible and near-infrared spectra the water albedo obeys an almost constant power-law relationship with wavelength. In the case of sand surfaces it was found that the sand albedo is a quadratic function of wavelength, which becomes more accurate if the ultraviolet wavelengths are neglected. Finally, it was found that the spectral dependence of snow albedo behaves similarly to that of water, i.e. both decrease from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared wavelengths by 20–50%, despite the fact that their values differ by one order of magnitude (water albedo being lower). In addition, the snow albedo vs. ultraviolet wavelength is almost constant, while in the visible near-infrared spectrum the best simulation is achieved by a second-order polynomial, as in the case of sand, but with opposite slopes