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ANTARCTIC OZONE

This page gives information about ozone at Halley, Rothera and Vernadsky/Faraday stations. It was either updated or new data was added on 20 10 July 22 .

Background / Ozone Bulletins / Ozone data

Situation at 2010 July 15

Ozone values over sunlit parts of the Antarctic Peninsula have fallen rapidly rapidly to around 240 DU.  Elsewhere ozone values are generally above 250 DU.  The polar vortex is nearing its largest.  Outside the vortex, ozone values are building with some areas approaching 400 DU.  On a few occasions the vortex has moved sufficiently towards the Atlantic sector to allow these high ozone areas to move over the continental fringes.  The temperature of the ozone layer over Antarctica is still cooling towards its late winter minimum and polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are widespread.  

See the final situation report for last year for information on the 2009 - 2010 season.

An opinion piece by Jonathan Shanklin to mark the 25th anniversary of the ozone hole appeared in (External) Nature on May 6.  The main BAS web page carries additional links. A (External) meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the ozone hole was held at Cambridge University on Friday, May 7.   It was (External) web-cast by Varsity , the Cambridge student newspaper.

Notes:  The Antarctic ozone hole is usually largest in early September and deepest in late September to early October.  September 16 is world ozone day, and in 2009 the final UN Member State to ratify the Montreal Protocol signed up.  2007 was the International Year of the Ozone Layer.  Prior to the formation of ozone holes, Antarctic ozone values were normally at their lowest in the autumn (ie March).  

Click on a thumbnail to get the latest graph or high resolution image.

Halley - Total ozone:       The observing season at Halley begins in early August.

 

r10.JPG (153196 bytes) Rothera -  Total ozone:     Real-time graphs showing current ozone and NO2 levels .   Mean values rose steadily from the autumn minimum at 260 DU in late February and reached around 320 DU in late June.   Values then fell rapidly and reached 260 DU by mid July, before rising again to 290 DU.  Superimposed on the general trends are fluctuations with periods of days to around a month and values can change by over 50% in a few days in the spring when the polar vortex rotates across the station.  The lowest value recorded so far this season is 224 DU on July 11.

Vernadsky - Total ozone:    Vernadsky station is run by the (External) National Antarctic Scientific Centre of Ukraine .    The observing season at Vernadsky begins in July.

 

nacreous_20070712a.JPG (233412 bytes) Temperature and PSCs:   The 100 hPa pressure level is near the base of the ozone layer, but is reached by most radiosonde flights.    The temperature at this height is sufficiently cold from July to October that polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) can form.   Temperatures are still cooling and have passed the PSC threshold in most areas.

Rothera have seen several displays of nacreous clouds this year.  There was a really bright display on July 15 (Mike) , July 15 (Rebecca) , and a fainter one on July 12 .  This display was noted as being seen through altostratus, but it is possible that this was layer type PSC.


Halley - 100 hPa temperature:   The 100 hPa temperature is declining towards the late winter minimum.

 

 

 Peninsula - 100 hPa temperature:    The mean 100 hPa temperature in the Antarctic Peninsula  is declining towards the late winter minimum.  There is often large day to day variation because the area is in the edge region of the circumpolar vortex.  

 

Satellite: (External) Satellite imagery gives a global perspective on the ozone hole.  Our 2009/2010 Antarctic ozone hole movie is produced from OMI images, which are generally well calibrated with respect to ground based measurements.   The NCEP and KNMI analyses are shown on the (External) Canadian Met Service daily ozone maps pages.  In general the NCEP analysis in the Southern Hemisphere tends to over-emphasise ozone depletion and the forecast further increases the amount of depletion.  The KNMI model is generally better at analysis and forecasting in the Antarctic.  The SMOBA and TOAST analyses both use SBUV and TOVS data, but the TOAST algorithm frequently over-estimates ozone depletion.  US NWS (External) CPC plots from NOAA show the (External) current area of the ozone hole .  The Sciamachy (External) uv index from the ESA  Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service shows the exposure risk at any location.

Arctic:  Values across the Arctic and temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere range from around 300 DU to 400 DU, with the summer circulation in  place.  In the second half of January, some parts of the Arctic stratosphere were cold enough for PSCs to form.  A mini ozone hole affected the UK around 2010 January 26.  There are sometimes significant differences (over 100 DU) between modelled, satellite and ground-based measurements, particularly when there is large variation in total column ozone.  Ozone values over the Arctic during 2009/10 are shown in our Northern Hemisphere TOMS movie .   For more UK information see the DEFRA (External) UK Stratospheric Ozone Measurements page.    

Equator: Ozone levels are normally lowest over the topics and OMI data shows nothing unusual.

Measurements reported here refer to ozone in the "ozone layer", where most of the ozone in the atmosphere is found.  This "layer" stretches from roughly 10 to 40km above the Earth's surface, with a peak at around 20km.  Bringing all the ozone in the "layer" down to ground level would give a thickness of around 3mm of pure ozone, which reduces to around 1mm at the height of the ozone hole.  A little ozone also exists closer to the Earth's surface and recent research shows that natural halogens in Antarctica can produce depletion in this near surface layer.

Background and related material
  • An opinion piece by Jonathan Shanklin to mark the 25th anniversary of the ozone hole appeared in (External) Nature on 2010 May 6.  
  • A revised edition of the BAS ozone pamphlet was published in 2010.
  • (External) Timor Leste ratified the Montreal Protocol on 2009 September 16, making it the first environmental treaty to be ratified by all UN Member States
  • (External) Upper stratospheric ozone recovering ? [SPIE news 2009 July 27]
  • BAS Scientific Report No 90: Measurements of atmospheric ozone at the Argentine Islands and Halley Bay, 1957-72
  • The paper on the discovery of ozone depletion in Antarctica is available as (External) an abstract from (External) Nature online .
  • (External) Forty Years ' Research on Atmospheric Ozone at Oxford : aHistory. GMBDobson 1968 (scanned by NOAA ESRL GMD)
  • (External) Listen again to the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Reunion" broadcast on 2007 April 29, which brings together the discoverers of the ozone hole
  • Slides from talk given to the Royal Meteorological Society on 2006 October 18
  • (External) Theory of the Dobson from the NOAA ESRL GMD (formerly CMDL)
  • Institute of Physics (External) i-seminar on the ozone hole and climate change given on 2005 October 31
  • The NASA ozone hole watch page
  • Some links to other sources of ozone information (updated 2004 November 19).
  • BAS Press Release on 2005 September 14 on 20th Anniversary of ozone hole discovery: International Ozone Day
  • Royal Astronomical Society ozone fact sheet
  • The 2001 July edition of Weather included an article on the ozone hole entitled 'Back to basics:- The ozone hole '. This version is slightly revised and updated.
  • WMO Press Release on (External) 2003 September 16 (Antarctic ozone hole unusually large)
  • BAS Press Release on 2003 September 12 (BA Festival of Science - The ozone hole)
  • Slides of talk 'The split Antarctic vortex - has it ever happened before ?' given at the RMS/ACSG meeting on 2003 August 29
  • (External) Twenty Questions and Answers about the Ozone Layer - WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2002
  • Why does the ozone hole form over Antarctica ?
  • BAS was involved in the QUOBI project in 2003 to contrast the ozone layer over the Arctic with that of the Antarctic.  Trial ozonesonde flights took place at Rothera in March and regular flights began at the end of June.  Animation of the ozonesonde flight results.
  • (External) Institute of Physics awards BAS Scientists the Charles Chree Medal and Prize
  • SCI Press Release BAS Scientists Awarded Environment Medal. This is what the medal looks like.
  • (External) Severe Arctic ozone depletion in 2000
  • BAS was involved in a big international collaboration to measure the ozone hole in 1999 September and October. Details of (External) ape-gaia are on the project web page.
  • Statement on stratospheric Ozone and the Ozone Hole
  • The BAS press release of 1997 October 2 ' Ozone hole starts to form in midwinter at sunlit edge of Antarctica '. A postscript image shows the calculated ozone depletion on 1994 July 23.
  • An ozone hole did not exist in 1956 (despite suggestions to the contrary) [updated 2002 October 14].
  • (External) UK ozone information from the Met Office.
  • (External) The ozone FAQ
  • Yahoo (External) ozone discussion group
  • (External) Canadian Met Service ozone information
  • Somewhat related is the subject of nacreous clouds , which were widely seen over the UK on 1996 February 18 and (External) over Scotland on 1999 November 30. Very low ozone values were recorded over the North Sea on the later occasion, more details are available from (External) NASA-TOMS . This event was probably caused by a combination of stratospheric and tropospheric dynamics (the stratosphere was very cold), with ozone depletion playing a minor role. On 2000 January 29 nacreous clouds were again seen over large parts of the UK. Stratospheric analyses show temperatures over the UK below -75 deg C on that day and the day before. Martin Brown has compiled a page of (External) further information and pictures of the display. Significant ozone depletions of up to 30% were seen in some areas of the Arctic during early March.

    • Ozone bulletins

    The BAS ozone bulletins contained the actual ozone values reported together with an analysis of the situation. These were distributed by email on request, but are now superceded by this web site.  The last email ozone bulletin was issued on 2002 May 28.  The final situation report of each season is archived for historical reference.

    Ozone data

    Please read this metadata description before asking any questions about the data. [updated 2008 March 20]. Most of our data is available on line, however please note that this is provisional and likely to change without warning.  You must request permission to reproduce the data and I may be able to supply more suitable or more up to date material.  If data from Halley is used you must give the station name as Halley;  Halley Bay was a geographical feature that no longer exists.

    Provisional daily mean ozone values for 2009/2010 for Halley   [Updated 2010 April 23] and Vernadsky .  [Updated 2010 July 22]  
    Provisional daily mean ozone values for Faraday/Vernadsky and Halley between 1972 and 2009. [Updated 2010 June 25]
    Provisional monthly mean ozone values for Faraday/Vernadsky and Halley between 1956 and 2009.
    Mean daily ozone values for the period 1957 - 1972 for Faraday and Halley . [NB: not corrected to Bass-Pauer]
    Daily ozone values for the period 1957 - 1973     for Faraday and Halley . [Revised to Bass-Pauer]

    Temperature and Ozone graphs for Halley and Vernadsky/Faraday. [Updated 2010 June 25].  The historic period shown in the inline graphs is for 1957 - 1972.

    Stratospheric Temperature
    Monthly 100 hPa temperature means for The Antarctic Peninsula and Halley between 1954 and 2008. [Updated 2010 June 25]

    Rothera - Ozonesondes:  During 2003 we carried out ozone sonde flights at Rothera as part of the QUOBI project .  Data from these flights is available in NASA-AMES format.  Animation of the ozonesonde flight results [note that although the ozone scale on these graphs reads nanobars, it should read mPa].

    Rothera - Ozone & nitrogen dioxide:   
    SAOZ total column nitrogen dioxide and ozone: 1996 , 1997 , 1998 , 1999 , 2000 , 2001 , 2002 , 2003 , 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , 2007 and 2008 [to 2008 January 22].  
    "New" SAOZ total column nitrogen dioxide and ozone : 2006 , 2007 , 2008 , 2009 and 2010 [updated 2010 July 22] and as real-time graphs showing current ozone and NO2 levels .
    Bentham ozone. Provisional values for 1997 / 1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2003 / 2004 [updated 2004 November 5 ]. 

    Some background information on Halley , Rothera and Faraday stations is available from BAS. Information about (External) Vernadsky station is also available from the Ukrainian Antarctic Centre. Information about (External) Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky

    Some surface and upper air synoptic data is also available on line from our public data page.

    Southern Hemisphere ozone hole movies for 1997/1998 , 1998/1999 , 1999/2000 , 2000/2001 , 2001/2002 , 2002/2003 , 2003/2004 , 2004/2005 , 2005 [TOMS], 2005/2006 , 2006/2007 , 2007/2008 , 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 [OMI, updated 2010 June 24].  A short sequence of the 2001 ozone hole .
    Northern Hemisphere movies for 2000/2001 , 2001/2002 , 2002/2003 , 2003/2004 , 2004/2005 , 2005 [TOMS], 2005/2006 , 2006/2007 , 2007/2008 , 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 [OMI updated 2010 June 24]  A short sequence of ozone depletion during the 2002/03 northern winter showing the difference from the normal.
    These annual movies are now about 4Mb and were compiled from daily (External) TOMS images until the end of 2005; from 2005/06 they were compiled from OMI images. The movies begin and end in June.
    (External) Today's OMI global image
    The (External) current area of the hole and (External) other latest details are available from the (External) NOAA Climate Prediction Center .
    Environment Canada have an excellent set of (External) daily maps showing both northern and southern ozone levels from a variety of sources.
    The Sciamachy (External) uv index from the ESA  Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service.  Note that west longitude is negative when entering co-ordinates.

    Contacts

    Requests for permission to use this data or for further information should be sent to Jon Shanklin who maintains these pages.

    (External) NERC / BAS / MET


     

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