Ozone and atmospheric transport processes

Abstract

A systematic program to measure vertical ozone distribution was established by the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories in January 1963. High resolution measurements with the Regener chemiluminescent ozonesonde have been obtained from a network of twelve stations in North America, which extends from the Canal Zone to the Arctic region. Processed data from the first two years of network operation were used to analyze the broad-scale characteristics of the ozone distribution. Detailed meridional cross sections of ozone mixing ratio were constructed and compared with simultaneous distributions of other atmospheric tracers including potential vorticity and radioactive debris. The striking consistency in the behavior of these tracers, each having quite different sources and sinks, suggests that the extratropical lower stratosphere is strongly stratified but on the average remains well mixed along surfaces which have a significant slope downward toward higher latitudes. To a good first approximation in all seasons, trace substances in this region of the atmosphere tend toward a uniform distribution along surfaces of constant potential vorticity. Direct computations of the temporal eddy ozone flux indicate that the northward transport across middle latitudes over North America occurs predominately at the base of the stratosphere near the tropopause. The average flux strength observed in the summer and fall seasons is less than one-third of the average winter and spring transport.DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1966.tb00244.x