Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ozone structure over the equatorial Andes from balloon-borne observations and zonal connection with two tropical sea level sites

  • Published:
Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper we present first-time measurements of ozone profiles from a high altitude station in Quito, Ecuador (0.19°S, 78.4°W, and 2391 masl) taken from June 2014 to September 2015. We interpret ozone observations in the troposphere, tropopause, and stratosphere through a zonal comparison with data from stations in the Atlantic and Pacific (Natal and San Cristobal from the SHADOZ network). Tropospheric ozone concentrations above the Andes are lower than ozone over San Cristobal and Natal for similar time periods. Ozone variability and pollution layers are also reduced in the troposphere above the Andes. We explain these differences in terms of reduced contributions from the boundary layer and from horizontal transport. In the tropical tropopause layer, ozone is well-mixed up to near the cold point tropopause level. In this regard, our profiles do not show constraints to deep mixing above 14 km, as has been consistently observed at other tropical stations. Total column ozone and stratospheric column ozone are comparable among the three sites. However, the contribution of tropospheric column ozone to total column ozone is significantly lower above the Andes. Our comparisons provide a connection between observations from tropical stations in equatorial South America separated by the wide continental mass. Identified differences in ozone throughout the atmospheric column demonstrate the global benefit of having an ozone sounding station at the equatorial Andes in support of global monitoring networks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balis, D., Kroon, M., Koukouli, M.E., Brinksma, E.J., Labow, G., Veefkind, J.P., McPeters, R.D.: Validation of ozone monitoring instrument total ozone column measurements using Brewer and Dobson spectrophotometer ground-based observations. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D24S46 (2007). doi:10.1029/2007JD008796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bela, M.M., Longo, K.M., Freitas, S.R., Moreira, D.S., Beck, V., Wofsy, S.C., Gerbig, C., Wiedemann, K., Andreae, M.O., Artaxo, P.: Ozone production and transport over the Amazon Basin during the dry-to-wet and wet-to-dry transition seasons. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 15, 757–782 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouarar, I., Law, K.S., Pham, M., Liousse, C., Schlager, H., Hamburger, T., Reeves, C.E., Cammas, J.-P., Nédélec, P., Szopa, S., Ravegnani, F., Viciani, S., D’Amato, F., Ulanovsky, A., Richter, A.: Emission sources contributing to tropospheric ozone over Equatorial Africa during the summer monsoon. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 11, 13395–13419 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brasseur, G.P., Kiehl, J.T., Müller, J.F., Schneider, T., Granier, C., Tie, X.X., Hauglustaine, D.: Past and future changes in global tropospheric ozone: impact on radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 3807–3810 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cazorla, M.: Análisis de los datos horarios de radiación solar y abundancia de ozono del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito del 2007 al 2012. Avances 5(2), C67–C78 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cazorla, M.: Air quality over a populated Andean region: insights from measurements of ozone, NO and boundary layer depths. Atmos. Pollut. Res. 7, 66–74 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cazorla, M., Tamayo, E.: Atmospheric measurement station at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (EMA): ground-based physical meteorology instrumentation and assessment of initial measurements. Av. Cienc. Ing. (Quito) 6(2), C21–C30 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danielsen, E.F.: A dehydration mechanism for the stratosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett. 9, 605–608 (1982)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diab, R.D., Raghunandan, A., Thompson, A.M., Thouret, V.: Classification of tropospheric ozone profiles over Johannesburg based on mozaic aircraft data. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 3, 713–723 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, K. M.: The effect of ozonopause placing on tropospheric ozone budgets: an analysis of ozonesondes profiles from selected IONS-06 sites, M. Sc. thesis, Dept. of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, USA (2008)

  • Fioletov, V.E., Tarasick, D.W., Petropavlovskikh, I.: Estimating ozone variability and instrument uncertainties from SBUV(/2), ozonesonde, Umkehr, and SAGE II measurements: short-term variations. J. Geophys. Res. 111, D02305 (2006). doi:10.1029/2005JD006340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folkins, I., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J., Oltmans, S., Proffitt, M.: A barrier to vertical mixing at 14 km in the tropics: evidence from ozonesondes and aircraft measurements. J. Geophys. Res. 104(D18), 22095–22102 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folkins, I., Oltmans, S.J., Thompson, A.M.: Tropical convective outflow and near‐surface equivalent potential temperatures. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27(16), 2549–2552 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folkins, I., Braun, C., Thompson, A.M., White, J.: Tropical ozone as indicator of deep convection. J. Geophys. Res. 107(D13), 4184 (2002). doi:10.1029/2001JD001178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fueglistaler, S., Dessler, A.E., Dunkerton, T.J., Folkins, I., Fu, Q., Mote, P.W.: Tropical tropopause layer. Rev. Geophys. 47, RG1004 (2009). doi:10.1029/2008RG000267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gettelman, A., Foster, P.M.D.: A climatology of the tropical tropopause layer. J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. 80, 911–924 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassler, B., Petropavlovskikh, I., Staehelin, J., August, T., Bhartia, P.K., Clerbaux, C., Degenstein, D., Mazière, M.D., Dinelli, B.M., Dudhia, A., Dufour, G., Frith, S.M., Froidevaux, L., Godin-Beekmann, S., Granville, J., Harris, N.R.P., Hoppel, K., Hubert, D., Kasai, Y., Kurylo, M.J., Kyrölä, E., Lambert, J.-C., Levelt, P.F., McElroy, C.T., McPeters, R.D., Munro, R., Nakajima, H., Parrish, A., Raspollini, P., Remsberg, E.E., Rosenlof, K.H., Rozanov, A., Sano, T., Sasano, Y., Shiotani, M., Smit, H.G.J., Stiller, G., Tamminen, J., Tarasick, D.W., Urban, J., van der, A.R.J., Veefkind, J.P., Vigouroux, C., von Clarmann, T., von Savigny, C., Walker, K.A., Weber, M., Wild, J., Zawodny, J.M.: Past changes in the vertical distribution of ozone – part 1: measurement techniques, uncertainties and availability. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 7, 1395–1427 (2014). doi:10.5194/amt-7-1395-2014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Highwood, E.J., Hoskins, B.J.: The tropical tropopause. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 124, 1579–7604 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, W.C., Hartley, W.R., Myers, L., Lin, M.H., Lin, Y.S., Lien, C.H., Lin, R.S.: Air pollution, weather, and associated risk factors related to asthma prevalence and attack rate. Environ. Res. 104, 402–409 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holton, J. R., Haynes, P. H., McIntyre, M. E., Douglass, A. R., Rood, R. B., Pfister, L.: Stratosphere-troposphere exchange. Rev. Geophys. 33 (1995). doi:10.1029/95RG02097

  • Hsu, J., Prather, M.J.: Diagnosing the stratosphere-to-troposphere flux in a chemistry transport model. J. Geophys. Res. 110, D19305 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Insel, N., Poulsen, C.J., Ehlers, T.A.: Influence of the Andes mountains on south American moisture transport, convection, and precipitation. Clim. Dyn. (2010). doi:10.1007/s00382-009-0637-1

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, M., Miller H.L. (eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA (2007)

  • Johnson, B.J., Oltmans, S.J., Vömel, H., Smit, H.G.J., Deshler, T., Kröger, C.: Electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesonde pump efficiency measurements and tests on the sensitivity to ozone of buffered and unbuffered ECC sensor cathode solutions. J. Geophys. Res. 107(D19), 4393 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, B., Davies, J.: Standard Operating Procedures for ECC ozonesondes. A practical guidance, Annex A in Quality Assurance and Quality Control for Ozonesonde Measurements in GAW. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (2013)

  • Kaye, J.A., Canziani, P., Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H., Proffitt, M., Wilcox, B.: Measurement of ozone, UVB radiation is a concern over Latin America. Eos Trans. 79(35), 415–419 (1998). doi:10.1029/98EO00319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H., Guarnieri, F.L.: Missing ozone at high altitude: comparison of in situ and satellite data. J. Geophys. Res. 83, 5501–5504 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H., Barnes, R.A., Torres, A.L.: Ozone climatology at Natal, Brazil, from in situ ozonesonde data. J. Geophys. Res. 96(D6), 10899–10909 (1991). doi:10.1029/91JD01212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komhyr, W.D., Barnes, R.A., Brothers, G.B., Lathrop, J.A., Opperman, D.P.: Electrochemical concentration cell ozonesonde performance evaluation during STOIC 1989. J. Geophys. Res. 100, 9231–9244 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Q., Yang, Y., Bao, X., Liu, F., Liang, W., Zhu, J., Bezemer, T.M., van der Putten, W.H.: Legacy effects of elevated ozone on soil biota and plant growth. Soil Biol. Biochem. 91, 50–57 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madden, M.C., Hogsett, W.E.: A historical overview of the ozone exposure problem. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. 7, 1121–1131 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPeters, R.D., Labow, G.J., Johnson, B.J.: A satellite-derived ozone climatology for balloonsonde estimation of total column ozone. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 8875–8885 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPeters, R.D., Labow, G.J., Logan, J.A.: Ozone climatological profiles for satellite retrieval algorithms. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D05308 (2007). doi:10.1029/2005JD006823

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel, D.B.: Ozone: an overview of its toxicity in man and animals. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health 13(2–3), 183–204 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pan, L.L., Paulik, L.C., Honomichl, S.B., Munchak, L.A., Bian, J., Vömel, H.: Identification of the tropical tropopause transition layer using the ozone-water vapor relationship. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 119, 3586–3599 (2014). doi:10.1002/2013JD020558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parra, R., Franco, E.: Identifying the ozone weekend effect in the air quality of the northern Andean region of Ecuador. Proceedings of the 24th international conference on modeling, monitoring, and management of air pollution (AIR 2016), Crete, Greece (2016)

  • Samuels-Crow, K.E., Galewsky, J., Hardy, D.R., Sharp, Z.D., Worden, J., Braun, C.: Upwind convective influence on the isotopic composition of atmospheric water vapor over the tropical Andes. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 119, 7051–7063 (2014). doi:10.1002/2014JD021487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SENAMHI (Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú): Monitoreo del ozono estratosférico en la localidad de Marcapomacocha Abril 2016, Lima, Perú (2016)

  • Shindell, D., Faluvegi, G., Lacis, A., Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Aguilar, E.: Role of tropospheric ozone increases in 20th-century climate change. J. Geophys. Res. 111, D08302 (2006). doi:10.1029/2005JD006348

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, A., Toumi, R.: Tropospheric ozone, lightning, and climate change. J. Geophys. Res. 102, D9 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, S., Thompson, D.W.J., Portmann, R.W., Oltmans, S.J., Thompson, A.M.: On the distribution and variability of ozone in the tropical upper troposphere: implications for tropical deep convection and chemical-dynamical coupling. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32(L23813), 2005 (2005). doi:10.1029/2005GL024323

    Google Scholar 

  • SPARC: SPARC-IOC-GAW Assessment of Trends in the Vertical Distribution of Ozone, SPARC Report No. 1, WMO Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report No. 43, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva (1998)

  • Stajner, I., Wargan, K., Pawson, S., Hayashi, H., Chang, L.-P., Hudman, R.C., Froidevaux, L., Livesey, N., Levelt, P.F., Thompson, A.M., Tarasick, D.W., Stübi, R., Andersen, S.B., Yela, M., König-Langlo, G., Schmidlin, F.J., Witte, J.C.: Assimilated ozone from EOS-Aura: evaluation of the tropopause region and tropospheric column. J. Geophys. Res. 113, D16S32 (2008). doi:10.1029/2007JD008863

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takashima, H., Shiotani, M.: Ozone variation in the tropical tropopause layer as seen from ozonesonde data. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D11123 (2007). doi:10.1029/2006JD008322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A.M., Pickering, K.E., McNamara, D.P., Schoeberl, M.R., Hudson, R.D., Kim, J.H., Browell, E.V., Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H., Nganga, D.: Where did tropospheric ozone over southern Africa and the tropical Atlantic come from in October 1992? Insights from TOMS, GTE TRACE A, and SAFARI 1992. J. Geophys. Res. 101(D19), 24251–24278 (1996). doi:10.1029/96JD01463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A.M., Witte, J.C., McPeters, R.D., Oltmans, S.J., Schmidlin, F.J., Logan, J.A., Fujiwara, M., Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H., Posny, F., Coetzee, G.J.R., Hoegger, B., Kawakami, S., Ogawa, T., Johnson, B.J., Vömel, H., Labow, G.: Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) 1998–2000 tropical ozone climatology 1. Comparison with Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and ground-based measurements. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 8238 (2003a). doi:10.1029/2001JD000967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A.M., Witte, J.C., Oltmans, S.J., Schmidlin, F.J., Logan, J.A., Fujiwara, M., Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H., Posny, F., Coetzee, G.J.R., Hoegger, B., Kawakami, S., Ogawa, T., Fortuin, J.P.F., Kelder, H.M.: Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) 1998–2000 tropical ozone climatology 2. Tropospheric variability and the zonal wave-one. J. Geophys. Res 108, 8241 (2003b). doi:10.1029/2002JD002241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A.M., Stone, J.B., Witte, J.C., Miller, S.K., Pierce, R.B., Chatfield, R.B., Oltmans, S.J., Cooper, O.R., Loucks, A.L., Taubman, B.F., Johnson, B.J., Joseph, E., Kucsera, T.L., Merrill, J.T., Morris, G.A., Hersey, S., Forbes, G., Newchurch, M.J., Schmidlin, F.J., Tarasick, D.W., Thouret, V., Cammas, J.-P.: Intercontinental chemical transport experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) 2004: 1. Summertime upper troposphere/lower stratosphere ozone over northeastern North America. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D12S12 (2007a). doi:10.1029/2006JD007441

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A.M., Stone, J.B., Witte, J.C., Miller, S.K., Oltmans, S.J., Kucsera, T.L., Ross, K.L., Pickering, K.E., Merrill, J.T., Forbes, G., Tarasick, D.W., Joseph, E., Schmidlin, F.J., McMillan, W.W., Warner, J., Hinsta, E.J., Johnson, J.: Intercontinental chemical transport experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) 2004: 2. Tropospheric ozone budgets and variability over northeastern North America. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D12S13 (2007b). doi:10.1029/2006JD00767

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, A.M., MacFarlane, A.M., Morris, G.A., Yorks, J.E., Miller, S.K., Taubman, B.F., Verver, G., Vömel, H., Avery, M.A., Hair, J.W., Diskin, G.S., Browell, E.V., Valverde Canossa, J., Kucsera, T.L., Klich, C.A., Hlavka, D.L.: Convective and wave signature in ozone profiles over the equatorial Americas: views from TC4 2007 and SHADOZ. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 115, D10 (2010). doi:10.1029/2009JD012909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thouret, V., Saunois, M., Minga, A., Mariscal, A., Sauvage, B., Solete, A., Agbangla, D., Nédélec, P., Mari, C., Reeves, C.E., Schlager, H.: An overview of two years of ozone radio soundings over Cotonou as part of AMMA. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 9, 6157–6174 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vömel, H., Diaz, K.: Ozone sonde cell current measurements and implications for observations of near-zero ozone concentrations in the tropical upper troposphere. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 3, 495–505 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellemeyer, C., Taylor, S., Seftor, C., McPeters, R., Bhartia, P.K.: A correction for TOMS profile shape errors at high latitude. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 9029–9038 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witte, J.C., Schoeberl, M.R., Douglass, A.R., Thompson, A.M.: The Quasi-biennial Oscillation and annual variations in tropical ozone from SHADOZ and HALOE. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 8, 3929–3936 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamasoe, M., Sauvage, B., Thouret, V., Nédélec, P., Le Flochmoen, E., Barret, B.: Analysis of tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide profiles over South America based on MOZAIC/IAGOS database and model simulations. Tellus B 67, 27884 (2015). doi:10.3402/tellusb.v%v.27884

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaratti, F., Andrade, M., Forno, N.R., Palenque, E.R.: Longitudinal and latitudinal variations of the total ozone over the central Andes, II. Nuovo Cimento 22, 145–152 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaratti, F., Forno, N.R., Palenque, E. R.: Five years of ozone measurements at La Paz, Bolivia. 7th international Congress of the Brazilean Geophysical Society, SBGf, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil (2001)

Download references

Acknowledgments

The EMA station was built by USFQ in 2014. The ozone sounding project at EMA was funded by USFQ through Collaboration Grant CG-2014. Thanks to USFQ authorities for their support throughout the completion of this project. Thanks to Nelson Herrera, Miguel Bravo, and Julieta Juncosa from USFQ for their help with balloon launching logistics and various tasks. Thanks to the SHADOZ program principal investigator (PI) Dr. Anne M. Thompson for making possible long term operations and data availability at SHADOZ stations. Thanks to San Cristobal and Natal PIs (B. Johson and N. Paes Leme) for producing data for the public archive. Thanks to Bryan Johnson and Patrick Cullis from NOAA for their help implementing the ozone sounding capability at EMA USFQ.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto de Investigaciones Atmosféricas, Colegio de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Diego de Robles y Av. Interocéanica s/n., Quito, Ecuador

    María Cazorla

Authors
  1. María Cazorla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Cazorla.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 233 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cazorla, M. Ozone structure over the equatorial Andes from balloon-borne observations and zonal connection with two tropical sea level sites. J Atmos Chem 74, 377–398 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-016-9348-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-016-9348-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation