NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Analysis of the Latitudinal Variability of Tropospheric Ozone in the Arctic Using the Large Number of Aircraft and Ozonesonde Observations in Early Summer 2008The goals of the paper are to: (1) present tropospheric ozone (O3) climatologies in summer 2008 based on a large amount of measurements, during the International Polar Year when the Polar Study using Aircraft, Remote Sensing, Surface Measurements, and Models of Climate Chemistry, Aerosols, and Transport (POLARCAT) campaigns were conducted (2) investigate the processes that determine O3 concentrations in two different regions (Canada and Greenland) that were thoroughly studied using measurements from 3 aircraft and 7 ozonesonde stations. This paper provides an integrated analysis of these observations and the discussion of the latitudinal and vertical variability of tropospheric ozone north of 55oN during this period is performed using a regional model (WFR-Chem). Ozone, CO and potential vorticity (PV) distributions are extracted from the simulation at the measurement locations. The model is able to reproduce the O3 latitudinal and vertical variability but a negative O3 bias of 6-15 ppbv is found in the free troposphere over 4 km, especially over Canada. Ozone average concentrations are of the order of 65 ppbv at altitudes above 4 km both over Canada and Greenland, while they are less than 50 ppbv in the lower troposphere. The relative influence of stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) and of ozone production related to the local biomass burning (BB) emissions is discussed using differences between average values of O3, CO and PV for Southern and Northern Canada or Greenland and two vertical ranges in the troposphere: 0-4 km and 4-8 km. For Canada, the model CO distribution and the weak correlation ( 30) of O3 and PV suggests that stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) is not the major contribution to average tropospheric ozone at latitudes less than 70oN, due to the fact that local biomass burning (BB) emissions were significant during the 2008 summer period. Conversely over Greenland, significant STE is found according to the better O3 versus PV correlation ( 40) and the higher 75th PV percentile. A weak negative latitudinal summer ozone gradient -6 to -8 ppbv is found over Canada in the mid troposphere between 4 and 8 km. This is attributed to an efficient O3 photochemical production due to the BB emissions at latitudes less than 65oN, while STE contribution is more homogeneous in the latitude range 55oN to 70oN. A positive ozone latitudinal gradient of 12 ppbv is observed in the same altitude range over Greenland not because of an increasing latitudinal influence of STE, but because of different long range transport from multiple mid-latitude sources (North America, Europe and even Asia for latitudes higher than 77oN).
Document ID
20170002029
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Ancellet, Gerard
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Daskalakis, Nikos
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Raut, Jean Christophe
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Tarasick, David
(Environment Canada Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Hair, Jonathan
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Quennehen, Boris
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Ravetta, Francois
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Schlager, Hans
(Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany)
Weinheimer, Andrew J.
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO, United States)
Thompson, Anne M.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Johnson, Bryan
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO, United States)
Thomas, Jennie L.
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Law, Katherine S.
(Paris VI Univ. France)
Date Acquired
March 7, 2017
Publication Date
October 28, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Publisher: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Volume: 16
Issue: 20
e-ISSN: 1680-7324
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN39627
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
climatologies
Tropospheric ozone
latitudinal and vertical variability

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available