Transcript UK OZONE RESEARCH

UK OZONE MONITORING
AND RESEARCH
Andy Chalmers
UK Department for Environment Food and
Rural Affairs
7th ORM, 20 May 2008
Outline
• Stratospheric ozone monitoring
• UV measurements
• ODS monitoring
• Research projects
• Future research needs
UK monitoring of stratospheric ozone
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UK – 4 sites:
• N Scotland
• N England
• S England
• Wales
(Dobson instrument)
(Brewer spectrophotometer)
(Brewer spectrophotometer)
(SAOZ spectrometer)
Antarctica – British Antarctic Survey (BAS), 2 sites:
• Halley station (Dobson)
• Rothera station (SAOZ)
UK ozone monitoring – data reporting
• Sites in England and Scotland:
• Data for ‘best daily average’ are uploaded to a
dedicated web page and issued to the World
Ozone and Ultra Violet Data Centre (WOUDC)
• Monthly data are submitted to the WOUDC for
inclusion in their archive
• Welsh site:
• Data added to the Network for the Detection of
Atmospheric Climate Change (NDACC), annually
UV monitoring in the UK
2 monitoring sites (Bentham spectrophotometers):
• N England
• S England
Solar UV index (Broadband):
• Measured at 7 sites by the Radiation
Protection Division, Health Protection Agency
Data reporting:
• Monitoring sites – dedicated website and
WOUDC
• UV index sites – global solar UV index
Monitoring ozone depleting substances
• High frequency, real time measurements of the
principal halocarbons and radiatively active
trace gases are made at Mace Head, Ireland
• The site is part of the Advanced Global
Atmosphere Gases Experiment (AGAGE)
network
• The data are used to estimate Northern
Hemisphere baseline concentrations and their
European and UK emission distributions
The Upper Troposphere/ Lower Stratosphere
(UTLS) OZONE Programme
• UTLS OZONE, which ended in 2006, was an
eight-year UK NERC funded thematic programme
to study ozone in the upper troposphere and
lower stratosphere
• This research led to an improved understanding
of chemical composition and structure in the
UTLS region between 6 and 20km
• In particular, showed that interactions between
dynamics (meteorology) and atmospheric
chemistry strongly influence the distribution of
ozone and other trace gases in the UTLS
Stratospheric-Climate links with emphasis on
the Upper Troposphere and lower stratosphere
(SCOUT-03)
• 5-year EC integrated project, ending in 2009, involving 19
countries
• Co-ordinated by the European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit (EORCU), at the University of Cambridge
• Project aims to predict aspects of the coupled
chemistry/climate system, including ozone change in the
lower stratosphere and associated UV and climate impact
• Model forecasts have/will contribute to assessments of
ozone depletion and climate change
Met Office Hadley Centre (MOHC)
– climate/ozone modelling
• MOHC has groups working on the modelling of both
tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and their
relationship to climate change
• Currently combining its tropospheric and stratospheric
ozone models, in collaboration with the Universities of
Cambridge and Leeds, to develop a whole atmosphere
chemistry model (UKCA, Chemistry and Aerosols)
• UKCA will be combined with MOHC’s climate and
ecosystem models, to create a full earth-system model
New research projects – started in 2007
• Modelling climate change in the S hemisphere,
according to predictions of future ozone change
– 3-year study, led by University of E Anglia
• Influence of solar variability on atmospheric
composition (including stratospheric ozone) and
climate (SOLCI) – 5-year project, led by Imperial
College London
Future research needs
Issues identified in the UK report:
• Further research on ozone/climate change
interactions
o Improving the capability of climate models to
represent stratospheric processes
o Better understanding of the basic physical
processes involved in ozone-climate links
• Verification of the photolysis rate for the ClO
dimer