UK OZONE MONITORING AND RESEARCH

1. UK OZONE MONITORING AND RESEARCH Andy Chalmers UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs 7th ORM, 20 May 2008

2. Outline • Stratospheric ozone monitoring • UV measurements • ODS monitoring • Research projects • Future research needs

3. UK monitoring of stratospheric ozone • UK – 4 sites: • N Scotland (Dobson instrument) • N England (Brewer spectrophotometer) • S England (Brewer spectrophotometer) • Wales (SAOZ spectrometer) • Antarctica – British Antarctic Survey (BAS), 2 sites: • Halley station (Dobson) • Rothera station (SAOZ)

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 Co-ordinating 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Future research needs Issues identified in the UK report: • Further research on ozone/climate change interactions • Improving the capability of climate models to represent stratospheric processes • Better understanding of the basic physical processes involved in ozone-climate links • Verification of the photolysis rate for the ClO dimer