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

Wolfgang Steinbrecht; Dagmar Kubistin; Christian Plass-Dülmer; Jonathan Davies; David W. Tarasick; Peter Von Der Gathen; Holger Deckelmann; Nis Jepsen; Rigel Kivi; Norrie Lyall; Matthias Palm; Justus Notholt; Bogumil Kois; Peter Oelsner; Marc Allaart; Ankie Piters; Michael Gill; Roeland Van Malderen; Andy W. Delcloo; Ralf Sussmann; Emmanuel Mahieu; Christian Servais; Gonzague Romanens; Rene Stübi; Gerard Ancellet; Sophie Godin-Beekmann; Shoma Yamanouchi; Kimberly Strong; Bryan Johnson; Patrick Cullis; Irina Petropavlovskikh; James W. Hannigan; Jose Luis Hernandez; Ana Diaz Rodriguez; Tatsumi Nakano; Fernando Chouza; Thierry Leblanc; Carlos Torres; Omaira Garcia; Amelie N. Röhling; Matthias Schneider; Thomas Blumenstock; Matt Tully; Clare Paton-Walsh; Nicholas Jones; Richard Querel; Susan Strahan; Ryan M. Stauffer; Anne M. Thompson; Antje Inness; Richard Engelen; Kai Lan Chang; Owen R. Cooper

doi:10.1029/2020GL091987

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

Wolfgang Steinbrecht
, Dagmar Kubistin
, Christian Plass-Dülmer
, Jonathan Davies
, David W. Tarasick
, Peter Von Der Gathen
, Holger Deckelmann
, Nis Jepsen
, Rigel Kivi
, Norrie Lyall
, Matthias Palm
, Justus Notholt
, Bogumil Kois
, Peter Oelsner
, Marc Allaart
, Ankie Piters
, Michael Gill
, Roeland Van Malderen
, Andy W. Delcloo
, Ralf Sussmann

Emmanuel Mahieu, Christian Servais, Gonzague Romanens, Rene Stübi, Gerard Ancellet, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Shoma Yamanouchi, Kimberly Strong, Bryan Johnson, Patrick Cullis, Irina Petropavlovskikh, James W. Hannigan, Jose Luis Hernandez, Ana Diaz Rodriguez, Tatsumi Nakano, Fernando Chouza, Thierry Leblanc, Carlos Torres, Omaira Garcia, Amelie N. Röhling, Matthias Schneider, Thomas Blumenstock, Matt Tully, Clare Paton-Walsh, Nicholas Jones, Richard Querel, Susan Strahan, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, Antje Inness, Richard Engelen, Kai Lan Chang, Owen R. Cooper

Deutscher Wetterdienst
Université Laval and Environment and Climate Change Canada
Alfred Wegener Institute - Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Danish Meteorological Institute
Finnish Meteorological Institute
British Meteorological Service
University of Bremen
Ministry of the Environment, Poland
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Irish Meteorological Service
Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
University of Liege
Now at Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss
Sorbonne Université
University of Toronto
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
University of Colorado Boulder
National Center for Atmospheric Research
State Meteorological Agency (AEMET)
Japan Meteorological Agency
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
AEMET
Bureau of Meteorology Australia
University of Wollongong
NIWA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Universities Space Research Association
University of Maryland, College Park
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

79 Scopus citations

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.

Original language	English
Article number	e2020GL091987
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	48
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091987
State	Published - Mar 16 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

COVID-19
emissions
ozone
troposphere

Access to Document

10.1029/2020GL091987

Cite this

Steinbrecht, W., Kubistin, D., Plass-Dülmer, C., Davies, J., Tarasick, D. W., Von Der Gathen, P., Deckelmann, H., Jepsen, N., Kivi, R., Lyall, N., Palm, M., Notholt, J., Kois, B., Oelsner, P., Allaart, M., Piters, A., Gill, M., Van Malderen, R., Delcloo, A. W., ... Cooper, O. R. (2021). COVID-19 Crisis Reduces Free Tropospheric Ozone Across the Northern Hemisphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(5), Article e2020GL091987. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091987

@article{d72558a919a4472f96d2bd44f65f8505,

title = "COVID-19 Crisis Reduces Free Tropospheric Ozone Across the Northern Hemisphere",

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.",

keywords = "COVID-19, emissions, ozone, troposphere",

author = "Wolfgang Steinbrecht and Dagmar Kubistin and Christian Plass-D{\"u}lmer and Jonathan Davies and Tarasick, \{David W.\} and \{Von Der Gathen\}, Peter and Holger Deckelmann and Nis Jepsen and Rigel Kivi and Norrie Lyall and Matthias Palm and Justus Notholt and Bogumil Kois and Peter Oelsner and Marc Allaart and Ankie Piters and Michael Gill and \{Van Malderen\}, Roeland and Delcloo, \{Andy W.\} and Ralf Sussmann and Emmanuel Mahieu and Christian Servais and Gonzague Romanens and Rene St{\"u}bi and Gerard Ancellet and Sophie Godin-Beekmann and Shoma Yamanouchi and Kimberly Strong and Bryan Johnson and Patrick Cullis and Irina Petropavlovskikh and Hannigan, \{James W.\} and Hernandez, \{Jose Luis\} and \{Diaz Rodriguez\}, Ana and Tatsumi Nakano and Fernando Chouza and Thierry Leblanc and Carlos Torres and Omaira Garcia and R{\"o}hling, \{Amelie N.\} and Matthias Schneider and Thomas Blumenstock and Matt Tully and Clare Paton-Walsh and Nicholas Jones and Richard Querel and Susan Strahan and Stauffer, \{Ryan M.\} and Thompson, \{Anne M.\} and Antje Inness and Richard Engelen and Chang, \{Kai Lan\} and Cooper, \{Owen R.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. The Authors.",

year = "2021",

month = mar,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1029/2020GL091987",

language = "English",

volume = "48",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc.",

number = "5",

}

Steinbrecht, W, Kubistin, D, Plass-Dülmer, C, Davies, J, Tarasick, DW, Von Der Gathen, P, Deckelmann, H, Jepsen, N, Kivi, R, Lyall, N, Palm, M, Notholt, J, Kois, B, Oelsner, P, Allaart, M, Piters, A, Gill, M, Van Malderen, R, Delcloo, AW, Sussmann, R, Mahieu, E, Servais, C, Romanens, G, Stübi, R, Ancellet, G, Godin-Beekmann, S, Yamanouchi, S, Strong, K, Johnson, B, Cullis, P, Petropavlovskikh, I, Hannigan, JW, Hernandez, JL, Diaz Rodriguez, A, Nakano, T, Chouza, F, Leblanc, T, Torres, C, Garcia, O, Röhling, AN, Schneider, M, Blumenstock, T, Tully, M, Paton-Walsh, C, Jones, N, Querel, R, Strahan, S, Stauffer, RM, Thompson, AM, Inness, A, Engelen, R, Chang, KL & Cooper, OR 2021, 'COVID-19 Crisis Reduces Free Tropospheric Ozone Across the Northern Hemisphere', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 48, no. 5, e2020GL091987. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091987

TY - JOUR

T1 - COVID-19 Crisis Reduces Free Tropospheric Ozone Across the Northern Hemisphere

AU - Steinbrecht, Wolfgang

AU - Kubistin, Dagmar

AU - Plass-Dülmer, Christian

AU - Davies, Jonathan

AU - Tarasick, David W.

AU - Von Der Gathen, Peter

AU - Deckelmann, Holger

AU - Jepsen, Nis

AU - Kivi, Rigel

AU - Lyall, Norrie

AU - Palm, Matthias

AU - Notholt, Justus

AU - Kois, Bogumil

AU - Oelsner, Peter

AU - Allaart, Marc

AU - Piters, Ankie

AU - Gill, Michael

AU - Van Malderen, Roeland

AU - Delcloo, Andy W.

AU - Sussmann, Ralf

AU - Mahieu, Emmanuel

AU - Servais, Christian

AU - Romanens, Gonzague

AU - Stübi, Rene

AU - Ancellet, Gerard

AU - Godin-Beekmann, Sophie

AU - Yamanouchi, Shoma

AU - Strong, Kimberly

AU - Johnson, Bryan

AU - Cullis, Patrick

AU - Petropavlovskikh, Irina

AU - Hannigan, James W.

AU - Hernandez, Jose Luis

AU - Diaz Rodriguez, Ana

AU - Nakano, Tatsumi

AU - Chouza, Fernando

AU - Leblanc, Thierry

AU - Torres, Carlos

AU - Garcia, Omaira

AU - Röhling, Amelie N.

AU - Schneider, Matthias

AU - Blumenstock, Thomas

AU - Tully, Matt

AU - Paton-Walsh, Clare

AU - Jones, Nicholas

AU - Querel, Richard

AU - Strahan, Susan

AU - Stauffer, Ryan M.

AU - Thompson, Anne M.

AU - Inness, Antje

AU - Engelen, Richard

AU - Chang, Kai Lan

AU - Cooper, Owen R.

PY - 2021/3/16

Y1 - 2021/3/16

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - COVID-19

KW - emissions

KW - ozone

KW - troposphere

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85102508057

U2 - 10.1029/2020GL091987

DO - 10.1029/2020GL091987

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85102508057

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 48

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 5

M1 - e2020GL091987

ER -

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

Abstract

Keywords

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