Ozone sondes

Logan J. (1994) Trends in the vertical distribution of ozone an analysis of ozone sonde data. J. Geophys. Res., 99,25553-25585. 

Analysis of Ozone Sonde Data In Relation To the Phase and Position of Polar Vortex... 

If the optical ozone sonde is to work well, the sunlight must be divided in a suitable way into two separated spectral regions one region influenced by ozone (ultraviolet light) and one not influenced by ozone (blue light). To obtain sufficient measuring precision with a simple instrument, the ozone reading must result from the quotient, ultra-... 

The vertical profile of the ozone concentration can also be determined by spectrophotometric observations16. However, more accurate distributions are measured by ozone sondes lifted by balloons into the upper layers of the... 

Attmannspacher, W., and H. U. Diitsch (1970). International Ozone sonde intercomparison at the Observatory Hohenpeisenberg. Ber. Dtsch. Wetterdienstes 16, No. 120. 

Hering, W. S., and T. R. Borden, Jr. (1967). Ozone sonde observations over North America, Vol. 4. Report AFCRL 64-30(IV), Environmental Research Papers No. 279. Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Bedford, Massachussetts. 

FIGURE 2 Seasonal variations of ozone as function of pressure (altitude) for 170°W, in volume mixing ratio (ppb). Contours are given every 10 to 150 ppb, and every 25 to 500 ppb. This climatology is mainly based on ozone sonde measurements of the years 1980 to 1993. (From Logan, J. A. (1999). J. Geophys. Res. 104,16, 115-149.)... 

TABLE IV Long-Term Ozone Sonde Records and LIDAR Measurements... 

Equation (19) shows the statistical model corrrmonly used in the analysis of ozone sonde measrrrements... 

The explanatory variables are introduced to describe natural variability. Usually the Quasi Biennial Oscillation and the 11-year solar cycle are considered in ozone sonde time series analysis and a linear trend, started at the beginning of the 1970s, is assumed. By statistical models breaks in several long-term ozone series were identified. However, it is a difficult task to distinguish between unknown natural variability and data quality problems. 

Table IV shows the sites where ozone sondes are launched. The suitability of the records for long-term ozone trend determination depends on the lengths of the record, the frequency of the measurements (which strongly varies from record to record, see Table IV), and data quality. Some problems are caused by the lack in the homogeneity of the measurements. The change from BM to ECC sondes of the Canadian stations around the end of the 1970s introduced breaks in these series. AtPayeme (Switzerland) the launch time was changed several times leading to breaks in ozone in the planetary boundary layer because of its systematical diurnal variation.

No significant ozone trend was found in the tropical station Hilo in Hawaii which provides regular ozone sondes since 1982. 

The database of the ozone sondes is very limited. At several stations the number of sondes launched per month is hardly sufficient for the representative characterization of the monthly mean values making the detection of significant trends a very difficult task. 

---