Global ozone budget and exchange between stratosphere and troposphere

Abstract

A survey of existing data reveals that tropospheric ozone is fairly uniformly distributed within the hemispheres, but that the hemispheres are well separated. Within the northern hemisphere representative data of tropospheric ozone exhibit a uniform seasonal variation the phase of which is delayed by about 2 months with respect to the injection into the troposphere. It is suggested that this delay is controlled by the rate of destruction of ozone within the troposphere. On the basis of this concept and additional reasonable assumptions it is possible to give a quantitative analysis of the ozone budget and of the seasonal variation of the exchange between stratosphere and troposphere. Calculated values of the global rate of ozone destruction, of the average vertical ozone flux and of the average stratospheric residence time of ozone are consistent with observations. Comparison of ozone data with data of fission products and of beryllium-7 enables a refinement of the analysis and allows further conclusions about the annual variation of the exchange between stratosphere and troposphere.