[en] Abstract Throughout spring and summer 2020, ozone stations in the northern extratropics recorded unusually low ozone in the free troposphere. From April to August, and from 1 to 8 kilometers altitude, ozone was on average 7% (≈4 nmol/mol) below the 2000–2020 climatological mean. Such low ozone, over several months, and at so many stations, has not been observed in any previous year since at least 2000. Atmospheric composition analyses from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and simulations from the NASA GMI model indicate that the large 2020 springtime ozone depletion in the Arctic stratosphere contributed less than one-quarter of the observed tropospheric anomaly. The observed anomaly is consistent with recent chemistry-climate model simulations, which assume emissions reductions similar to those caused by the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 related emissions reductions appear to be the major cause for the observed reduced free tropospheric ozone in 2020.
Research center :
Sphères - SPHERES
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Steinbrecht, Wolfgang
Kubistin, Dagmar
Plass-Dülmer, Christian
Davies, Jonathan
Tarasick, David W.
Gathen, Peter Von Der
Deckelmann, Holger
Jepsen, Nis
Kivi, Rigel
Lyall, Norrie
Palm, Matthias
Notholt, Justus
Kois, Bogumil
Oelsner, Peter
Allaart, Marc
Piters, Ankie
Gill, Michael
Van Malderen, Roeland
Delcloo, Andy W.
Sussmann, Ralf
Mahieu, Emmanuel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe infra-rouge de phys. atmosph. et solaire (GIRPAS)
Servais, Christian ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe infra-rouge de phys. atmosph. et solaire (GIRPAS)
Archibald, A. T., Neu, J. L., Elshorbany, Y., Cooper, O. R., Young, P. J., Akiyoshi, H., et al. (2020). Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report: A critical review of changes in the tropospheric ozone burden and budget from 1850 to 2100. Elementa Science of the Anthropocene, 8, 034. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.034
Barré, J., Petetin, H., Colette, A., Guevara, M., Peuch, V. -H., Rouil, L., et al. (2020). Estimating lockdown induced European NO2 changes. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions. 1–28. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-995
Bauwens, M., Compernolle, S., Stavrakou, T., Müller, J.-F., van Gent, J., Eskes, H., et al. (2020). Impact of coronavirus outbreak on NO2 pollution assessed using TROPOMI and OMI observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL087978. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087978
Bozem, H., Butler, T. M., Lawrence, M. G., Harder, H., Martinez, M., Kubistin, D., et al. (2017). Chemical processes related to net ozone tendencies in the free troposphere. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17, 10565–10582. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10565-2017
Chen, L.-W. A., Chien, L.-C., Li, Y., & Lin, G. (2020). Nonuniform impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on air quality over the United States. The Science of the Total Environment, 745, 141105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141105
Collivignarelli, M. C., Abbà, A., Bertanza, G., Pedrazzani, R., Ricciardi, P., & Carnevale Miino, M. (2020). Lockdown for COVID-2019 in Milan: What are the effects on air quality? The Science of the Total Environment, 732, 139280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139280
Cooper, O. R., Parrish, D. D., Ziemke, J., Balashov, N. V., Cupeiro, M., Galbally, I. E., et al. (2014). Global distribution and trends of tropospheric ozone: An observation-based review. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 2, 000029. https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000029
De Mazière, M., Thompson, A. M., Kurylo, M. J., Wild, J. D., Bernhard, G., Blumenstock, T., et al. (2018). The Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC): History, status and perspectives. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18, 4935–4964. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4935-2018
Dentener, F., Keating, T. T., & Akimoto, H. (Eds.), (2011). Hemispheric transport of air pollution 2010, Part A: Ozone and particulate matter. Air pollution studies (Vol. 17, p. 305). New York: United Nations. https://doi.org/10.18356/2c908168-en
Ding, J., van der A, R. J., Eskes, H. J., Mijling, B., Stavrakou, T., van Geffen, J. H., et al. (2020). NOx emissions reduction and rebound in China due to the COVID-19 crisis. Geophysical Research Letters, 46, e2020GL089912. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089912
Feng, S., Jiang, F., Wang, H., Wang, H., Ju, W., Shen, Y., et al. (2020). NOx emission changes over China during the COVID-19 epidemic inferred from surface NO2 observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL090080. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090080
Gaudel, A., Ancellet, G., & Godin-Beekmann, S. (2015). Analysis of 20 years of tropospheric ozone vertical profiles by lidar and ECC at Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) at 44°N, 6.7°E. Atmospheric Environment, 113, 78–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.04.028
Gaudel, A., Cooper, O. R., Ancellet, G., Barret, B., Boynard, A., Burrows, J. P., et al. (2018). Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report: Present-day distribution and trends of tropospheric ozone relevant to climate and global atmospheric chemistry model evaluation. Elementa Science of the Anthropocene, 6, 39. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.291
Gelaro, R., McCarty, W., Suarez, M. J., Todling, R., Molod, A., Takacs, et al. (2017). The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2). Journal of Climate, 30, 5419–5454. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0758.1
Goldberg, D. L., Anenberg, S. C., Griffin, D., McLinden, C. A., Lu, Z., & Streets, D. G. (2020). Disentangling the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on urban NO2 from natural variability. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL089269. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089269
Granados-Muñoz, M. J., & Leblanc, T. (2016). Tropospheric ozone seasonal and long-term variability as seen by lidar and surface measurements at the JPL-Table Mountain Facility, California. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16, 9299–9319. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9299-2016
Grewe, V., Dahlmann, K., Flink, J., Frömming, C., Ghosh, R., Gierens, et al. (2017). Mitigating the climate impact from aviation: Achievements and results of the DLR WeCare project. Aerospace, 4, 34. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace4030034
Guevara, M., Jorba, O., Soret, A., Petetin, H., Bowdalo, D., Serradell, K., et al. (2020). Time-resolved emission reductions for atmospheric chemistry modelling in Europe during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21, 773–797. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-686
Hurtmans, D., Coheur, P.-F., Wespes, C., Clarisse, L., Scharf, O., Clerbaux, C., et al. (2012). FORLI radiative transfer and retrieval code for IASI. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 113, 1391–1408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2012.02.036
Inness, A., Ades, M., Agusti-Panareda, A., Barré, J., Benedictow, A., Blechschmidt, A. M., et al. (2019). The CAMS reanalysis of atmospheric composition. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 19, 3515–3556. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3515-2019
Keller, C. A., Evans, M. J., Knowland, K. E., Hasenkopf, C. A., Modekurty, S., Lucchesi, R. A., et al. (2021). Global impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the surface Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-685
Kroll, J. H., Heald, C. L., Cappa, C. D., Farmer, D. K., Fry, J. L., Murphy, J. G., & Steiner, A. L. (2020). The complex chemical effects of COVID-19 shutdowns on air quality. Nature Chemistry, 12, 777–779. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-020-0535-z
Le Quéré, C., Jackson, R. B., Jones, M. W., Smith, A. J. P., Abernethy, S., Andrew, R. M., et al. (2020a). Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement. Nature Climate Change, 10, 647–653. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x
Le Quéré, C., Jackson, R. B., Jones, M. W., Smith, A. J. P., Abernethy, S., Andrew, R. M., et al. (2020b). Supplementary data to: Le Quéré et al (2020), Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement (Version 1.2). Global Carbon Project, 10, 647–653. https://doi.org/10.18160/RQDW-BTJU
Leblanc, T., Brewer, M. A., Wang, P. S., Granados-Muñoz, M. J., Strawbridge, K. B., Travis, M., et al. (2018). Validation of the TOLNet lidars: the Southern California Ozone Observation Project (SCOOP). Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 11, 6137–6162. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6137-2018
Lee, J. D., Drysdale, W. S., Finch, D. P., Wilde, S. E., & Palmer, P. I. (2020). UK surface NO2 levels dropped by 42 % during the COVID-19 lockdown: impact on surface O3. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20, 15743–15759. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15743-2020
Liu, X., Bhartia, P. K., Chance, K., Spurr, R. J. D., & Kurosu, T. P. (2010). Ozone profile retrievals from the ozone monitoring instrument. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 10, 2521–2537. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-2521-2010
Liu, Z., Ciais, P., Deng, Z., Lei, R., Davis, S. J., Feng, S., et al. (2020). Near-real-time monitoring of global CO2 emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Communications, 11, 5172. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18922-7
Manney, G. L., Livesey, N. J., Santee, M. L., Froidevaux, L., Lambert, A., Lawrence, Z. D., et al. (2020). Record-low Arctic stratospheric ozone in 2020: MLS observations of chemical processes and comparisons with previous extreme winters. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL089063. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089063
Menut, L., Bessagnet, B., Siour, G., Mailler, S., Pennel, R., & Cholakian, A. (2020). Impact of lockdown measures to combat COVID-19 on air quality over western Europe. The Science of the Total Environment, 741, 140426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140426
Nédélec, P., Blot, R., Boulanger, D., Athier, G., Cousin, J.-M., Gautron, B., et al. (2015). Instrumentation on commercial aircraft for monitoring the atmospheric composition on a global scale: The IAGOS system, technical overview of ozone and carbon monoxide measurements. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 67, 27791. https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v67.27791
Neu, J., Flury, T., Manney, G., Santee, M. L., Livesey, N. J., & Worden, J. (2014). Tropospheric ozone variations governed by changes in stratospheric circulation. Nature Geoscience, 7, 340–344. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2138
Oetjen, H., Payne, V. H., Kulawik, S. S., Eldering, A., Worden, J., Edwards, D. P., et al. (2014). Extending the satellite data record of tropospheric ozone profiles from Aura-TES to MetOp-IASI: Characterisation of optimal estimation retrievals. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 7, 4223–4236. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4223-2014
Ordóñez, C., Garrido-Perez, J. M., & García-Herrera, R. (2020). Early spring near-surface ozone in Europe during the COVID-19 shutdown: Meteorological effects outweigh emission changes. The Science of the Total Environment, 747, 141322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141322
Park, S., Son, S.-W., Jung, M.-I., Park, J., & Park, S.-S. (2020). Evaluation of tropospheric ozone reanalyses with independent ozonesonde observations in East Asia. Geoscience Letters, 7, 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40562-020-00161-9
Parrish, D. D., Derwent, R. G., Steinbrecht, W., Stübi, R., Van Malderen, R., Steinbacher, M., et al. (2020). Zonal similarity of long-term changes and seasonal cycles of baseline ozone at northern midlatitudes. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmosphere, 125, e2019JD031908. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031908
Shi, X., & Brasseur, G. P. (2020). The response in air quality to the reduction of Chinese economic activities during the COVID-19 outbreak. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL088070. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088070
Sicard, P., De Marco, A., Agathokleous, E., Feng, Z., Xu, X., Paoletti, E., et al. (2020). Amplified ozone pollution in cities during the COVID-19 lockdown. The Science of the Total Environment, 735, 139542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139542
Siciliano, B., Dantas, G., da Silva, C. M., & Arbilla, G. (2020). Increased ozone levels during the COVID-19 lockdown: Analysis for the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Science of the Total Environment, 737, 139765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139765
Sillman, S. (1999). The relation between ozone, NOx and hydrocarbons in urban and polluted rural environments. Atmospheric Environment, 33, 1821–1845. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(98)00345-8
Smit, H. G. J., Straeter, W., Johnson, B., Oltmans, S., Davies, J., Tarasick, D. W., et al. (2007). Assessment of the performance of ECC-ozonesondes under quasi-flight conditions in the environmental simulation chamber: Insights from the Jülich Ozone Sonde Intercomparison Experiment (JOSIE). Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, D19306. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007308
Stauffer, R. M., Thompson, A. M., Kollonige, D. E., Witte, J. C., Tarasick, D. W., Davies, J., et al. (2020). A post-2013 dropoff in total ozone at a third of global ozonesonde stations: Electrochemical concentration cell instrument artifacts? Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL086791. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086791
Sterling, C. W., Johnson, D. J., Oltmans, S. J., Smit, H. G. J., Jordan, A. F., Cullis, P. D., et al. (2018). Homogenizing and estimating the uncertainty in NOAA's long-term vertical ozone profile records measured with the electrochemical concentration cell ozonesonde. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 11, 3661–3687. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3661-2018
Strahan, S. E., Douglass, A. R., & Damon, M. R. (2019). Why do Antarctic ozone recovery trends vary? Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmosphere, 124, 8837–8850. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030996
Tarasick, D. W., Davies, J., Smit, H. G. J., & Oltmans, S. J. (2016). A re-evaluated Canadian ozonesonde record: measurements of the vertical distribution of ozone over Canada from 1966 to 2013. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 9, 195–214. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-195-2016
Tarasick, D., Galbally, I. E., Cooper, O. R., Schultz, M. G., Ancellet, G., Leblanc, T., et al. (2019). Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report: Tropospheric ozone from 1877 to 2016, observed levels, trends and uncertainties. Elementa Science of the Anthropocene, 7, 39. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.376
Thornton, J. A., Wooldridge, P. J., Cohen, R. C., Martinez, M., Harder, H., Brune, W. H., et al. (2002). Ozone production rates as a function of NOx abundances and HOx production rates in Nashville urban plume. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, 4146. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD000932
Van Malderen, R., Allaart, M. A. F., De Backer, H., Smit, H. G. J., & De Muer, D. (2016). On instrumental errors and related correction strategies of ozonesondes: Possible effect on calculated ozone trends for the nearby sites Uccle and De Bilt. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 9, 3793–3816. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3793-2016
Vautard, R., Beekmann, M., Desplat, J., Hodzic, A., & Morel, S. (2007). Air quality in Europe during the summer of 2003 as a prototype of air quality in a warmer climate. Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 339, 747–763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2007.08.003
Venter, Z. S., Aunan, K., Chowdhury, S., & Lelieveld, J. (2020). COVID-19 lockdowns cause global air pollution declines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(32), 18984–18990. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006853117
Vigouroux, C., Blumenstock, T., Coffey, M., Errera, Q., García, O., Jones, N. B., et al. (2015). Trends of ozone total columns and vertical distribution from FTIR observations at eight NDACC stations around the globe. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15, 2915–2933. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2915-2015
Weber, J., Shin, Y. M., Staunton Sykes, J., Archer-Nicholls, S., Abraham, N. L., & Archibald, A. T. (2020). Minimal climate impacts from short-lived climate forcers following emission reductions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL090326. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090326
Witte, J. C., Thompson, A. M., Smit, H. G. J., Fujiwara, M., Posny, F., Coetzee, G. J. R., et al. (2017). First reprocessing of Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ) profile records (1998–2015): 1. Methodology and evaluation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmosphere, 122, 6611–6636. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD026403
WMOASOPOS panel. (2014). Quality assurance and quality control for ozonesonde measurements in GAW, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Global Atmosphere Watch report series. H. G. J. Smit (Ed.), GAW Report No. 201 (p. 100). Geneva. Retrieved from https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=7167
Wohltmann, I., von der Gathen, P., Lehmann, R., Maturilli, M., Deckelmann, H., Manney, G. L., et al. (2020). Near-complete local reduction of Arctic stratospheric ozone by severe chemical loss in spring 2020. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL089547. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089547
Wu, S., Mickley, L. J., Jacob, D. J., Logan, J. A., Yantosca, R. M., & Rind, D. (2007). Why are there large differences between models in global budgets of tropospheric ozone? Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, D05302. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007801
Zhang, Y., West, J. J., Emmons, L. K., Flemming, J., Jonson, J. E., Lund, M. T., et al. (2020). Contributions of world regions to the global tropospheric ozone burden change from 1980 to 2010. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL089184. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089184