Scientific Sponsorship Statement

Ozone soundings from Ny-Ålesund/Spitsbergen

Table of content:

  1. Data Set Description
  2. Instrument Description
  3. Algorithm Description
  4. Expected Precision/Accuracy of Instrument
  5. Instrument History
  6. Sondes with problems
  7. Data Usage Permission
  8. Contact Information
  9. Publications and Reference Articles

1. Data Set Description

Instrument:  ECC ozonesonde
Site: Koldewey station, Ny-Ålesund (11.95 E, 78.93 N)
Measurement Quantities: Pressure, Temperature, Rel. humidity, Wind speed and direction, Geopotential height, Ozone partial pressure, Box temperature
PI:  Peter von der Gathen

2. Instrument Description

At Ny-Ålesund the ECC type ozonesonde has been used exclusively since 1988.  Only Science Pump Corp. 5A and 6A type ECC sondes are used.  The ECC's are connected to Vaisala RS-80-15/18 and RS-90 AGE type radiosondes using the Vaisala RSA-11 interface card.  The ground receiving station is Vaisala running DigiCORA.  A 1% KI solution (3 cc) is used (along with KBr and a pH buffer).  The preparation is according to the VAISALA handbook.

Latest instrument intercomparison cf. Steinbrecht et al. [1999].

3. Algorithm Description

Ozone is calculated as a partial pressure. PTU data from the sonde is not used directly in the calculation except in the pump correction.

PPOZ(nb)  = 0.004307 * i * Temperature * t

where:

i is the current from the sensor - background in uA.  t is the time in seconds to pump 0.100 liters of air through the pump multiplied by the pump correction.
Background current is assumed to be proportional to pressure for consistency with earlier flights.  Temperature is the Box temperature taken as the pump temperature.  See history of thermistor usage at the end.

The pump correction is interpolated from the table:

(for 3.0 cc of cathode solution)
 
Pressure Correction
2.0 1.171
3.0 1.131
5.0 1.092
10.0 1.055
20.0 1.032
30.0 1.022
50.0 1.015
100.0 1.011
200.0 1.008
300.0 1.006
500.0 1.004
1000.0 1.000

Note: No individual calibration of the pump correction is made

4. Expected Precision/Accuracy of Instrument

PTU values for RS 80 Radiosonde

Pressure:
Resolution 0.1 mb
Accuracy +/- 0.5 mb

Temperature:
Resolution 0.1 C
Accuracy +/- 0.2 C

Humidity:
Resolution 1% RH
Accuracy +/- 2% RH

(Stratospheric humidity data are unreliable)

Geopotential Height:
Uses Pressure and Temperature profile.
Errors due to uncertainty in these values.

Box Temperature:
Resolution 0.1 C
Accuracy +/- 0.5 C

Ozone Partial Pressure:
Resolution 0.01 mPa
Accuracy* +/- 10%

* Accuracy is +/- 10% or less depending on altitude (according to the JOSIE report for this type of ECC sonde.  However, we didn't take part in the comparison.

Smit H., et al., JOSIE: The 1996 WMO International Intercomparison of Ozonesondes under Quasi-flight Conditions in the Environmental Simulation Chamber at Julich, Proc. Quad. Ozone Symp., l'Aquila, Italy, 1996)
The main sources of error are the pump correction at high altitudes and background current in the troposphere.

Non of of the ozone profiles has been normalised.  Ny-Ålesund is a polar station, i.e. there is no sun available for external Dobson measurements for about 4-5 months/year.  In order to achieve a homogeneous data set throughout the year it was abandoned to perform any Dobson correction.  However, the upper part of the ozone profiles have been compared frequently to different satellite experiments (TOMS, TOVS, ILAS, POAM III).

All suspect data is removed after visual inspection of each single sounding by one and the same person for all soundings.

5. Instrument History

The winds will be calculated using GPS navaids instead of Omega after September 1997.

The thermistor for the box temperature had been situated on the inlet tube before Dec. 6, 1998.  Since then the thermistor is inserted in the pump hole of the 6A sondes.

6. Sondes with problems

The comments inside the header of following sondes describe known problems.  According to these comments one should decide whether the data sets are usable for the proposed application:

19920120.ecc.5a.5a2342.awi-na.csv
19930118.ecc.5a.5a10040.awi-na.csv

7. Data Usage Permission

The use of the data has to follow the general rules of the WOUDC. In any case the Alfred Wegener Institute has to be quoted as origin of the data correctly in any form of publications.  Notifications of analysis work in progress are very welcome.  The AWI asks for a copy of any publication using data from the AWI. Non-scientific use without an explicit permission from the AWI is prohibited.

8. Contact Information

Name: Peter von der Gathen
Address: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Research Department Potsdam
Telegrafenberg A43
P. O. Box 60 01 49
D-14401 Potsdam
Germany
Phone: +49-331-288-2128
Fax: +49-331-288-2178
Email: gathen@awi-potsdam.de

9. Publication and Reference Articles

2003

Grant, W. B., E. V. Browell, C. F. Butler, S. C. Gibson, S. A. Kooi, P. von der Gathen, Estimation of Arctic polar vortex ozone loss during the winter of 1999/2000 using vortex-averaged airborne differential absorption lidar ozone measurements referenced to N2O isopleths, J. of Geophys.Res., in press.

Karpetchko, A., E. Kyro, P. von der Gathen, Generation of layering in the upper Arctic troposphere away from the jet stream, Ann. Geophys., in press.

Orsolini, Y. J., Eskes, H., Hansen, G., Hoppe, U. -P., Kylling, A., Kyro, E., Notholt, J., Van der A, R., Gathen, P. von der(2003). Summertime low-ozone episodes at northern high latitudes, Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc., submitted.

2002

Schoeberl, M. R., P. A. Newman, L. R. Lait, T. McGee, J. Burris, E. V. Browell, W. Grant, E. Richard, P. von der Gathen, R. Bevilacqua, I. S. Mikkelsen, An assessment of the ozone loss during the 1999-2000 SOLVE Arctic campaign, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), 8261, doi:10.1029/2001JD000412., 2002.

Harris, N. R. P., M. Rex, F. Goutail, B. M. Knudsen, G. L. Manney, R. Müller, P. von der Gathen, Comparison of empirically derived ozone loss rates in the Arctic vortex, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), 8264, doi:10.1029/2001JD000482, 2002.

Lait, L. R., M. R. Schoeberl, P. A. Newman, T. McGee, J. Burris, E. V. Browell, E. Richard, G. O. Braathen, B. R. Bojkov, F. Goutail, P. von der Gathen, E. Kyrö, G. Vaughan, H. Kelder, S. Kirkwood, P. Woods, V. Dorokhov, I. Zaitcev, Z. Litynska, B. Kois, A. Benesova, P. Skrivankova, H. De Backer, J. Davies, T. Jørgensen, I. S. Mikkelsen,  Ozone loss from quasi-conservative coordinate mapping during the 1999-2000 SOLVE campaign, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), 8274, doi:10.1029/2001JD000998, 2002.

Rex, M., R. J. Salawitch, N. R. P. Harris, P. von der Gathen, G. O. Braathen, A. Schulz, H. Deckelmann, M. Chipperfield, B. M. Sinnhuber, E. Reimer, R. Alfier, R. Bevilacqua, K. Hoppel, M. Fromm, J. Lumpe, H. Küllmann, A. Kleinböhl, H. Bremer, M. von König, K. Künzi, D. Toohey, H. Vömel, E. Richard, K. Aikin, H. Jost, J. B. Greenblatt, M. Loewenstein, J. R. Podolske, C. R. Webster, G. J. Flesch, D. C.  Scott, R. L. Herman, J. W. Elkins, E. A. Ray, F. L. Moore, D. F. Hurst, P. Romashkin, G. C. Toon, B. Sen, J. J. Margitan, P. Wennberg, R. Neuber, M. Allart, R. B. Bojkov, H. Claude, J. Davies, W. Davies, H. De Backer, H. Dier, V. Dorokhov, H. Fast, Y. Kondo, E. Kyrö, Z. Litynska, I. S. Mikkelsen, M. J. Molyneux, E. Moran, G. Murphy, T. Nagai, H. Nakane, C. Parrondo, F. Ravegnani, P. Skrivankova, P. Viatte, V. Yushkov, Chemical loss of Arctic ozone in winter 1999/2000, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), 8276, doi:10.1029/2001JD000533, 2002.

Randall, C. E., J. D. Lumpe, R. M. Bevilacqua, K. W. Hoppel, M. D. Fromm, R. J. Salawitch, W. H. Swartz, S. A. Lloyd, E. Kyrö, P. von der Gathen, H. Claude, J. Davies, H. DeBacker, H. Dier, M. J. Molyneux, J. Sancho, Reconstruction of three-dimensional ozone fields using POAM III during SOLVE, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), 8299, doi:10.1029/2001JD000471, 2002.

Davies, S., M. P. Chipperfield, K. S. Carslaw, B.-M. Sinnhuber, J. G. Anderson, R. Stimpfle, D. Wilmouth, D. W. Fahey, P. J. Popp, E. C. Richard, P. von der Gathen, H. Jost, C. R. Webster, Modeling the effect of denitrification on Arctic ozone depletion during winter 1999/2000, J. Geophys. Res.,107, 8322, doi:10.1029/2001JD000445, 2002. [printed 108(D5), 2003]

Tarasick, D. W. and J. W. Bottenheim, Surface ozone depletion episodes in the Arctic and Antarctic from historical ozonesonde records, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2, 197-205, 2002.

2001

Schulz, A., M. Rex, N. R. P. Harris, G. O. Braathen, E. Reimer, R. Alfier, I. Kilbane-Dawe, S. Eckermann, M. Allaart, M. Alpers, B. Bojkov, J. Cisneros, H. Claude, E. Cuevas, J. Davies, H. De Backer, H. Dier, V. Dorokhov, H. Fast, S. Godin, B. Johnson, B. Kois, Y. Kondo, E. Kosmidis, E. Kyrö, Z. Litynska, I. S. Mikkelsen, M. J. Molyneux, G. Murphy, T. Nagai, H. Nakane, F. O'Connor, C. Parrondo, F. J. Schmidlin, P. Skrivankova, C. Varotsos, C. Vialle, P. Viatte, V. Yushkov, C. Zerefos, and P. von der Gathen, Arctic ozone loss in threshold conditions: Match observations in 1997/98 and 1998/99, J. Geophys. Res., 106, D7, 7495-7503, 2001.

Gernandt, H., R. Neuber, P. von der Gathen, Recent contributions to long-term atmospheric studies at Koldewey-Station., Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue, 54, 49-63, 2001.

Neuber, R.,G.  Beyerle, P. von der Gathen, P. Wahl, A. Dahl, M. Gross, Th. McGee, U. Klein, W. Steinbrecht, An intercomparison campaign of ozone and temperature measurements in the Arctic (NAOMI-98, Ny-Ålesund/Spitsbergen), Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue, 54, 65-70, 2001.

2000

Schulz, A., M. Rex, J. Steger, N. R. P. Harris, G. O. Braathen, E. Reimer, R. Alfier, A. Beck, M. Alpers, J. Cisneros, H. Claude, H. De Backer, H. Dier, V. Dorokhov, H. Fast, S. Godin, G. Hansen, H. Kanzawa, B. Kois, Y. Kondo, E. Kosmidis, E. Kyrö, Z. Litynska, M. J. Molyneux, G. Murphy,  H. Nakane, C. Parrondo, F. Ravegnani, C. Varotsos, C. Vialle, P. Viatte, V. Yushkov, C. Zerefos, and P. von der Gathen, Match observations in the Arctic winter 1996/97: High stratospheric ozone loss rates correlate with low temperatures deep inside the polar vortex, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 205-208, 2000.

Rex, M., K. Dethloff, D. Handorf, A. Herber, R. Lehmann, R. Neuber, J. Notholt, A. Rinke, P. von der Gathen, A. Weisheimer, and H. Gernandt, Arctic and Antarctic ozone layer observations - chemical and dynamical aspects of variability and long-term changes in the polar stratosphere, Polar Research, 19(2), 193-204, 2000.

Sinnhuber, B.-M., M. P. Chipperfield, J. Davies, J. P. Burrows, K.-U. Eichmann, M. Weber, P. von der Gathen, M. Guirlet, G. A. Cahill, A. M. Lee, J. A. Pyle, Large loss of total ozone during the Arctic winter of 1999/2000, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, No. 21, 3473-3476, 2000.

1999

Rex, M., P. von der Gathen, G. O. Braathen, N. R. P. Harris, E. Reimer, A. Beck, R. Alfier, R. Krüger-Carstensen, M. Chipperfield, H. De Backer, D. Balis, F. O'Connor, H. Dier, V. Dorokhov, H. Fast, A. Gamma, M. Gil, E. Kyrö, Z. Litynska, I. S. Mikkelsen, M. Molyneux, G. Murphy, S. J. Reid, M. Rummukainen, and C. Zerefos, Chemical ozone loss in the Arctic winter 1994/95 as determined by the Match technique, J. atmos. Chem., 32, 35-59, 1999.

Steinbrecht, W., M. R. Gross, T. J. McGee, R. Neuber, P. von der Gathen, P. Wahl, U. Klein, and J. Langer, Results of the 1998 Ny-Ålesund Ozone Measurements Intercomparison NAOMI, J. Geophys. Res., 104, D23, 30515-30523, 1999.

1998

Rex, M., P. von der Gathen, N. R. P. Harris, D. Lucic, B. M. Knudsen, G. O. Braathen, S. J. Reid, H. De Backer, H. Claude, R. Fabian, H. Fast, M. Gil, E. Kyrö, I. S. Mikkelsen, M. Rummukainen, H. G. Smit, J. Stähelin, C. Varotsos, I. Zaitcev, In-situ measurements of stratospheric ozone depletion rates in the Arctic winter 1991/92: a Lagrangian approach, J. Geophys. Res., 103, D5, 5843-5853, 1998.

Reid S. J., M. Rex, P. von der Gathen, I. Fløisand, F. Stordal, G. D. Carver, L. L. De Haan, E. Reimer, R. Krüger-Carstensen, E. Kyrö, F. M. O'Connor, G. O. Braathen, G. Murphy, J. Wenger, C. Zerefos, and C. Varotsos, A study of ozone laminae using diabatic trajectories, contour advection and photochemical trajectory model simulations, J. atmos. Chem., 30, 187-207, 1998.

1997

Rex, M., N. R. P. Harris, P. von der Gathen, R. Lehmann, G. O. Braathen, E. Reimer, A. Beck, M. P. Chipperfield, R. Alfier, M. Allaart, F. O'Connor, H. Dier, V. Dorokhov, H. Fast, M. Gil, E. Kyrö, Z. Litynska, I. S. Mikkelsen, M. G. Molyneux, H. Nakane, J. Notholt, M. Rummukainen, P. Viatte, J. Wenger, Prolonged stratospheric ozone loss in the 1995/96 Arctic winter, Nature, 389, 835-838, 1997.

1996

Gernandt, H., A. Herber, P. von der Gathen, M. Rex, A. Rinke, S. Wessel, and S. Kaneto, Variability of ozone and aerosols in the polar atmosphere, Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue, 51, 189-215, 1996.

1995

von der Gathen, P., M. Rex, N. R. P. Harris, D. Lucic, B. M. Knudsen, G. O. Braathen, H. De Backer, R. Fabian, H. Fast, M. Gil, E. Kyrö, I. St. Mikkelsen, M. Rummukainen, J. Stähelin, and C. Varotsos, Observational evidence for chemical ozone depletion over the Arctic in winter 1991-92, Nature, 375, 131-134, 1995.

1994

Knudsen, B., P. von der Gathen, G. O. Braathen, R. Fabian, T. S. Jørgensen, E. Kyrö, R. Neuber, und M. Rummukainen, Temporal development of the correlation between ozone and potential vorticity in the Arctic in the winters 1988/89, 1989/90 and 1990/91, Proc. of the Quad. Ozone Symposium 1992, Ed. R. D. Hudson, Charlottesville, Virginia, Juni 4-13, 1992, NASA Conference Publication 3266, 504-507, 1994.

Neuber, R., G. Beyerle, O. Schrems, R. Fabian, P. von der Gathen, und B. C. Krüger, Measurements of stratospheric ozone and aerosols above Spitsbergen, Proc. of the Quad. Ozone Symposium 1992, Ed. R. D. Hudson, Charlottesville, Virginia, Juni 4-13, 1992, NASA Conference Publication 3266, 483-487, 1994.

Fabian, R., P. von der Gathen, J. Ehlers, B. C. Krüger, R. Neuber, und G. Beyerle, Comparison between ozone profiles measured above Spitsbergen by LIDAR and sonde techniques, Proc. of the Quad. Ozone Symposium 1992, Ed. R. D. Hudson, Charlottesville, Virginia, Juni 4-13, 1992, NASA Conference Publication 3266, 512-515, 1994.

1993

Ehlers, J., Vergleich Sonde - Lidar anhand arktischer Ozonprofile, Master thesis, Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Bremen, 1993.

de Beek, R., Vergleich von Totalozondaten verschiedener Meßmethoden, Master thesis, Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Bremen, 1993.

1992

Rummukainen M., S. Joffre, J. Damski, und P. von der Gathen, Stratospheric ozone variability over Spitsbergen in March - April 1991, Ber. Bunsenges. Phys. Chem., 96, No. 3, 277-280, 1992.