COVID-19 Crisis Reduces Free Tropospheric Ozone Across the Northern Hemisphere

Authors

Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Deutscher Wetterdienst
Dagmar Kubistin, Deutscher Wetterdienst
Christian Plass-Dülmer, Deutscher Wetterdienst
Jonathan Davies, Environment Canada
David W. Tarasick, Environment Canada
Peter von der Gathen, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Holger Deckelmann, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
Nis Jepsen, Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut
Rigel Kivi, Finnish Meteorological Institute
Norrie Lyall, British Meteorological Service
Matthias Palm, Universität Bremen
Justus Notholt, Universität Bremen
Bogumil Kois, Ministerstwo Srodowiska, Poland
Peter Oelsner, Deutscher Wetterdienst
Marc Allaart, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Ankie Piters, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Michael Gill, Met Éireann
Roeland Van Malderen, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium
Andy W. Delcloo, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium
Ralf Sussmann, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus North
Emmanuel Mahieu, Universite de Liege
Christian Servais, Universite de Liege
Gonzague Romanens, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss
Rene Stübi, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss
Gerard Ancellet, Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers
Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers
Shoma Yamanouchi, University of Toronto
Kimberly Strong, University of Toronto
Bryan Johnson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Patrick Cullis, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Irina Petropavlovskikh, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Publication Name

Geophysical Research Letters

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.

Open Access Status

This publication may be available as open access

Volume

48

Issue

5

Article Number

e2020GL091987

Funding Number

50EE1711A

Funding Sponsor

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091987