Representativeness of single lidar stations and SBUV overpasses in zonally averaged ozone layered means, their trends and the role of proxies
Résumé
The paper is focusing on the representativeness of single lidar stations and SBUV overpasses in searching for trends in the vertical ozone profiles. It was found that from the lower to the upper stratosphere single or grouped stations correlate well with zonal means calculated from SBUV overpasses in a global perspective. The best representativeness in vertical ozone profiles is found within 5 degrees of latitude north or south of any LIDAR station or SBUV overpasses at which the latitude range is expanded as we move to the upper stratospheric layers. The paper includes a detailed analysis on a ranking of proxy footprints in the vertical ozone profiles. Major proxies studied are of different kinds: those outside of the earth system (solar cycle), those who represent dynamic processes (the QBO, the AO, AAO, ENSO), the volcanic aerosol component (AOD) and the manmade contribution to chemistry (EESC). The trends have been studied after removal of proxies from the total available SBUV records during the period 1980-2015. As seen in the detailed contributions of the proxies major contributions come from chemistry, the solar cycle and AOD. It appears that at some particular years the synergistic contribution of proxies which although contribute smaller amplitudes to ozone individually, when composited can result to anomalies that may influence the long term change or trend in the ozone profiles. Notable periods for the synergistic negative anomalies can be seen in 1983, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013. During all these years ozone at about 24 km dropped below -6% of the mean. The so-called “inflection point” between 1997 and 1999 marks the large reduction of the significant negative ozone trends, followed by the recent period of positive ozone change 1998-2015 which is observed above 15 hPa whose significance remains to be proven due to its smaller period in comparison to the total period of 36 years of ozone profiles (1980-2015).