A Post-2013 Dropoff in Total Ozone at a Third of Global Ozonesonde Stations: Electrochemical Concentration Cell Instrument Artifacts?
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Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2020-05-16
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Citation of Original Publication
Stauffer, R. M., Thompson, A. M.,Kollonige, D. E., Witte, J. C., Tarasick,D. W., Davies, J., et al. (2020). Apost‐2013 dropoff in total ozone at athird of global ozonesonde stations:Electrochemical concentration cellinstrument artifacts?GeophysicalResearch Letters,47, e2019GL086791. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086791.
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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract
An international effort to improve ozonesonde data quality and to reevaluate historical recordshas made significant improvements in the accuracy of global network data. However, between 2014 and2016, ozonesonde total column ozone (TCO; O₃) at 14 of 37 regularly reporting stations exhibited a suddendropoff relative to satellite measurements. The ozonesonde TCO drop is 3–7% compared to satellite andground‐based TCO, and 5–10% or more compared to satellite stratospheric O₃ profiles, compromising theuse of recent data for trends, although they remain reliable for other uses. Hardware changes in theozonesonde instrument are likely a major factor in the O₃ dropoff, but no single property of the ozonesonde explains thefindings. The bias remains in recent data. Research to understand the dropoff is in progress; thisletter is intended as a caution to users of the data. Ourfindings underscore the importance of regularozonesonde data evaluation.