Ozone monitoring in Salekhard and Tomsk, western Siberia

Abstract

Atmospheric ozone plays an important role in understanding the processes occurring in the atmosphere and changes in the climate. This article relates to experimental results from balloon-borne research in the stratosphere for the study of chemical and dynamical processes influencing climate change and for validation of satellite observations. Total ozone observations in western Siberia were performed by the Brewer MKIV S/N 049 spectrophotometer in Tomsk and the SAOZ UV–Vis spectrometer in Salekhard. We also use 2Z-ECC ozonesondes for ozone profile observations in the winter/spring period at the Salekhard aerological station. During the winter/spring season of 2011, Arctic ozone in the 19–21 km altitude region was observed to be more than 70% less than typical values. In the winter/spring season of 2012, on the other hand, Arctic conditions were overall much warmer than in 2011, and no evidence of significant ozone loss was seen above the Asiatic regions of the Russian Federation. The aim of the article is to describe which and where these measurements were carried out and illustrate their performances by some examples of ozone data measured in western Siberia, Russia, such as that which occurred in the winter/spring season of 2011.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Tatyana Popova and Vladimir Balashov from Salekhard aerological station for SAOZ and ozonesonde operation in 1997–2012. We thank the staff from Droplet Measurement Technologies, Boulder, Colorado, USA, for discussions and help with new ECC ozonesonde 2Z-V7 activation. We also thank Gloria L. Manney from North West Research Associates, NM, USA, and Peter von der Gathen from Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany, for discussions and help during the initial phase of paper preparation.