A. N. Gruzdev

Latitudinal dependence of variations in stratospheric NO 2 content

Diurnal and annual variations in the NO2 total content (TC), the effect of its decrease owing to the products of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, its variations during an 11-year cycle of solar activity, and its linear trends are analyzed on the basis of data obtained from the ground-based spectrometric measurements of the NO2 TC in stratospheric vertical columns over the stations of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change. Latitudinal dependence of the indicated variations and trends is revealed. The annual estimates of the linear trends of the NO2 TC are found to be mostly positive for the middle and low latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and negative for the middle and low latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The maximum values of the positive and negative trends amount to ∼10% per ten years. In the high and polar latitudes of both hemispheres, the annual trend estimates are statistically insignificant. Seasonal estimates of the trends may differ from their annual estimates. The trends and solar-activity effect in the NO2 TC, which were estimated by using the two-dimensional model SOCRATES, as well as the analytical estimates of a zonal mean trend of the NO2 TC, on the whole, significantly differ from the estimates obtained from the measurements.

Latitudinal structure of variations and trends in stratospheric NO2

Using data from ground-based spectrometric measurements of stratospheric column nitrogen dioxide (NO2) within the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), analyses are made of the diurnal and annual variations of NO2, the NO2 decrease relating to the Pinatubo eruption, the NO2 change during the 11-year cycle of solar activity (SA), and the linear trends in NO2. Latitudinal dependences of these variations and trends are revealed. In particular, the annual trend estimates of column NO2 are predominantly positive in the middle latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) whereas negative NO2 trends are observed in the middle Northern Hemisphere (NH) latitudes. Column NO2 content in the middle latitudes of the two hemispheres is generally larger during the SA minimum than during the SA maximum (negative sign of the SA effect).

Two regimes of the quasi-biennial oscillation in the equatorial stratospheric wind

An analysis of changes in the period of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the zonal velocity of the equatorial stratospheric wind on isobaric surfaces 70, 50, 40, 30, 20, 15, and 10 hPa for 1953-1997 is made. In particular, wavelet analysis, high-resolution spectral analysis, and circle map analysis have been made. Different methods reveal that the QBO in the equatorial wind velocity at the noted stratospheric levels manifests itself mainly as two prevailing regimes with periods of about 2 and 2.5 years alternating with each other. At middle-stratosphere levels the QBO amplitude changes as well with the changing period (increases with the period increase). The two periods are in a rational ratio to the annual period (with the ratios of corresponding frequencies to the annual frequency equal to one half and two fifths), thus pointing out the phase locking of the QBO to the annual cycle. Spectra of wind velocity exhibit, in addition to the main QBO periods, the annual and semiannual oscillations as well as 20-, 8-, and 8.6-month oscillations corresponding to oscillations with combination frequencies equal to the difference and sum of the annual frequency and the main QBO frequencies. Hypothetical conceptual mechanisms of the two regimes of the QBO are discussed.

Validating NO2 measurements in the vertical atmospheric column with the OMI instrument aboard the EOS Aura satellite against ground-based measurements at the Zvenigorod Scientific Station

Data on the NO2 content in the vertical column of the atmosphere obtained with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard the EOS Aura satellite (United States) in the period from October 2004 to October 2007 are compared with the results of ground-based measurements at the Zvenigorod Scientific Station (55.7° N, 36.8° E). The “unpolluted”; part of the total NO2 content in the atmospheric column, which mostly represents the stratosphere, and the NO2 contents in the vertical column of the troposphere, including the lower layer, which is subject to pollution, are included in the comparison. The correlation coefficient between the results of ground-based and satellite measurements of the “unpolluted” total NO2 content is ∼0.9. The content values measured with the OMI instrument are smaller than the results of ground-based measurements (on average, by (0.30 ± 0.03) × 1015 cm−2 or by (11 ± 1)%). Therms discrepancy between the satellite and ground-based data is 0.6 × 1015 cm−2. The NO2 content in the vertical column of the troposphere from the results of satellite measurements is, on average, (1.4 ± 0.5) × 1015 cm−2, (or about 35%) smaller than from the results of ground-based measurements, and the rms discrepancy between them is about 200%. The correlation coefficient between these data is ∼0.4. This considerable discrepancy is evidently caused by the strong spatial (horizontal) inhomogeneity and the temporal variability of the NO2 field during episodes of pollution, which leads to different (and often uncorrelated) estimates of the NO2 content in the lower troposphere due to different spatial resolutions of ground-based and satellite measurements.

Effect of the 11-Year Cycle of Solar Activity on Characteristics of the Total Ozone Annual Variation

The goal of the paper is an analysis of changes in the amplitude and phase characteristics of the annual variation (AC) of total ozone (TO) from ground-based and satellite (TOMS) measurements and their interpretation with a two-dimensional photochemical model. According to ground-based TO measurements, two characteristic types of quasi-decadal variations in the phase of the annual harmonic (AH) of total ozone have been noted: variations in phase and antiphase with solar activity (SA). Changes in the TO AH phase opposite to solar activity variation are noted the high latitudes of the North Atlantic region and in the tropical belt, and in-phase changes are observed in the middle and subtropical latitudes of both hemispheres. Variations in the TO AH amplitude (hence, in the TO AV amplitude) and in the annual mean TO usually coincide in phase with the SA cycle. Analysis of satellite data shows that the 0-phase of the AV and the phase of the AH of the zonal mean TO at middle latitudes vary synchronously with the 11-year solar cycle. Model simulations have shown that the stratospheric ozone influx to the middle latitudes increases in the fall and winter period during a period of maximum solar activity. This dynamic mechanism accounts for up to 30% of the winter ozone increase in the ozone maximum layer in the Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes during the solar maximum as compared with the solar minimum. In the northern midlatitudes, the dynamic mechanism makes the main contribution to ozone changes during the latter half of winter under SA variations. The stratospheric ozone inflow change induced by SA variations affects the annual variation of ozone.

Quasi-biennial variations in ozone and meteorological parameters over western Europe from ozonesonde data

Quasi-biennial variations in vertical profiles of ozone, temperature, air pressure, and zonal and meridional wind velocities are analyzed from ozonesonde data obtained at the western European stations of Lindenberg, Hohenpeissenberg, and Payerne. The effect of quasi-biennial variations manifests itself variously in different variables and is nonuniform in altitude. The period of quasi-biennial variations is not constant, and the values of the mean period group mainly around 2 and 2.5 years. As in the North American region, the effects of quasi-biennial variations in different parameters of the stratosphere and troposphere over western Europe are due to a combination of the effects of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the equatorial stratosphere, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The observed 2.5-year variations in stratospheric ozone are related to the equatorial QBO to a larger extent in comparison with variations in other variables. It seems likely that a determining influence on variations in stratospheric wind and temperature is exerted by the ENSO. Variations in tropospheric and stratospheric parameters with a mean period of about 2 years are due to the ENSO and NAO effects.

Anomalies of the ozone and nitrogen dioxide contents in the stratosphere over Moscow region as a manifestation of the dynamics of the stratospheric polar vortex

Measurements of the stratospheric contents of O3 and NO2 in the Moscow region were used to analyze the anomalies of these species related to the sudden stratospheric warming in the winter and the following deformation of the stratospheric circumpolar vortex in early February 2010 and the latitudinal displacement of the vortex towards the European sector in late March 2011 before the final warming in the spring. In the first case, an increase in the O3 and NO2 contents up to 85% and by two times, respectively, was recorded. In the second case, the O3 content decreased by one-fourth and the NO2 content dropped by two times as compared to the average values for the periods that preceded the beginning of the anomalies.

Winter–spring anomalies in the stratospheric content of NO2 from ground-based measurement results

According to the results of ground-based spectrometric measurements, significant negative anomalies in the stratospheric content of NO2 were observed at a number of stations in the Northern Hemisphere during winter and spring 2011. These anomalies were accompanied by those in total ozone content (TOC) and stratospheric temperature and were caused by the transport of air masses from the region of the arctic ozone hole. The results of analysis of vertical NO2 profiles obtained at the Zvenigorod Scientific Station showed that a certain contribution to the 2011 negative anomalies of NO2 was made due to a denitrification of the polar stratosphere in the ozone-hole region. The relation between variations in the total content of NO2 and those in the TOC and temperature was analyzed for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres during winter–spring periods. It was found that this relation depends on the phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation in the stratospheric equatorial wind. Such a correlation usually intensifies if only the episodes of negative anomalies caused by the transport of stratospheric air masses from the ozone-hole region are taken into consideration.

Analysis of the weekly cycle in the atmosphere near Moscow

Using the spectral method and the method of grouping by days of week, we analyzed the weekly cycles by standard air sounding data obtained at the Dolgoprudny station near Moscow and by the results of measurements of NO2 content in the stratosphere and the atmospheric boundary layer at the Zvenigorod Research Station of the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1990–2010. We revealed weekly cycles of the NO2 content in the vertical column of the stratosphere, temperature, geopotential, meridional wind velocity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, and the tropopause height in the warm half of the year (mid-April to mid-October). The weekly variations in temperature in the troposphere are positive in the first half of the week and negative in the second half, and the variations in temperature in the tropopause layer and in the lower stratosphere are opposite in sign to the tropospheric variations. The weekly cycle of the tropopause height is approximately in phase with the cycle of tropospheric temperature, and the weekly cycle of the NO2 content in the stratospheric column is opposite in phase to the cycle of the tropopause height. Weekly variations were also observed in the total ozone content over Moscow. This finding was confirmed by calculations based on regression relationships between the vertical distribution of ozone and tropopause height. Conceptual mechanisms of weekly cycles were proposed.

Temporal Variability of the Chemical Composition of Surface Aerosol in the Moscow Region in 1999-2005 from the Results of Infrared Spectroscopy of Aerosol Samples

The temporal variability of the chemical composition of surface aerosol with particle diameters of 0.7–2 μm is analyzed. This analysis is based on the results of measurements of infrared transmission spectra of aerosol samples collected with the use of a cascade impactor at the Zvenigorod Scientific Station of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in 1999–2005. Seasonal features of the aerosol chemical composition and its dependence on the particle size are revealed. The interdiurnal variability of the aerosol composition depends on the season, and it manifests itself more strongly in winter and spring. Air-mass changes lead to changes in the relation of sulfates and nitrates in the micron fraction of aerosol. The enrichment of samples in nitrates is especially characteristic of the winter and spring seasons. Compounds containing the NO2 group are often met in the samples of aerosol with particle sizes of 0.7–1.3 μm during the cold time of the year. The estimates of the optical thickness of micron aerosol in the sulfate absorption band are obtained, and optical-thickness variations of some scales are detected. The quantitative characteristics of statistical relations between different chemical components of aerosol inside individual fractions and between chemical components of the micron and submicron fractions are obtained and analyzed.