Response of the ozone column over Europe to the 2011 Arctic ozone depletion event according to ground-based observations and assessment of the consequent variations in surface UV irradiance

• Published in: Atmospheric Environment
• Main Authors: Petkov, Boyan H., Vitale, Vito, Tomasi, Claudio, Siani, Anna Maria, Seckmeyer, Gunther, Webb, Ann, Smedley, Andrew R. D., Rocco Casale, Giuseppe, Werner, Rolf, Lanconelli, Christian, Mazzola, Mauro, Lupi, Angelo, Busetto, Maurizio, Diémoz, Henri, Goutail, Florence, Köhler, Ulf, Mendeva, Bogdana T., Josefsson, Weine, Moore, David, López Bartolomé, María, Moret González, Juan Ramon, Mišaga, Oliver, Dahlback, Arne, Tóth, Zoltán, Varghese, Saji, de Backer, Hugo, Stübi, René, Vaníček, Karel
• Other Authors: Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics Trieste (ICTP), CNR Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council of Italy, Dipartimento di Fisica Roma La Sapienza, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University Rome (UNIROMA), Institut für Meteorologie und Klimatologie Hannover (IMUK), Leibniz Universität Hannover=Leibniz University Hannover, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences Manchester (SEAES), University of Manchester Manchester, Space Research and Technology Institute Sofia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), STRATO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Meteorologisches Observatorium Hohenpeißenberg (MOHp), Deutscher Wetterdienst Offenbach (DWD), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), United Kingdom Met Office Exeter, Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMet), Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMU), University of Oslo (UiO), Hungarian Meteorological Service (OMSZ), Valentia Geophysical and Meteorological Observatory, Irish Meteorological Service, Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique Bruxelles - Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (IRM), Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Solar and Ozone Observatory (SOO), Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: Arctic ozone; Ozone depletion; Solar UV irradiance; Ozone impact on surface UV; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00922350; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.12.005

International audience The strong ozone depletion event that occurred in Arctic during spring 2011 was found to cause appreciable reduction in the ozone column (OC) in Europe, even at lower latitudes. The features of this episode have been analysed using the data recorded at 34 ground-based stations located in the European area and compared with the similar events in 2000 and 2005. The results provided evidence that OC as far south as 40°N latitude was considerably influenced by the Arctic ozone loss in spring 2011. The reduction of OC at the northernmost sites was about 40% with respect to the mean value calculated over the previous six-year period, while a similar decrease at the southern extreme ranged between 15 and 18%, and were delayed by nearly two weeks compared to the Arctic region. The ozone distributions reconstructed for the West Europe sector show that the decline of OC lasted from late March to late April 2011. The echo of the Arctic ozone depletion on mid-latitude UV irradiance has been analysed trough model computations that show an increase of the midday erythemal dose by 3-4 SED (1 SED = 100 J m-2) that was slightly higher than at polar regions. On the other hand it was assessed that the biosystems in the northernmost regions were a subject of about 4 times higher UV stress than those at mid-latitudes. Despite indications of an OC recovery, the event examined here shows that the issue of ozone depletion episodes cannot be belittled.