A Post-2013 Dropoff in Total Ozone at a Third of Global Ozonesonde Stations: Electrochemical Concentration Cell Instrument Artifacts?

An international effort to improve ozonesonde data quality and to reevaluate historical records has made significant improvements in the accuracy of global network data. However, between 2014 and 2016, ozonesonde total column ozone (TCO; O₃) at 14 of 37 regularly reporting stations exhibited a sudden dropoff relative to satellite measurements. The ozonesonde TCO drop is 3–7% compared to satellite and ground-based TCO, and 5–10% or more compared to satellite stratospheric O₃ profiles, compromising the use of recent data for trends, although they remain reliable for other uses. Hardware changes in the ozonesonde instrument are likely a major factor in the O₃ dropoff, but no single property of the ozonesonde explains the findings. The bias remains in recent data. Research to understand the dropoff is in progress; this letter is intended as a caution to users of the data. Our findings underscore the importance of regular ozonesonde data evaluation.