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Satellite measurements of the clear-sky greenhouse effect from tropospheric ozone

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 305–308 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Radiative forcing from anthropogenic ozone in the troposphere is an important factor in climate change1, with an average value of 0.35 W m−2 according to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change1 (IPCC). IPCC model results range from 0.25 to 0.65 W m−2, owing to uncertainties in the estimates of pre-industrial concentrations of tropospheric ozone1,2,3, and in the present spatial and temporal distributions of tropospheric ozone4,5,6,7,8, which are much more variable than those of longer-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Here, we analyse spectrally resolved measurements of infrared radiance from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer9 on board the NASA Aura satellite, as well as corresponding estimates of atmospheric ozone and water vapour, to obtain the reduction in clear-sky outgoing long-wave radiation due to ozone in the upper troposphere over the oceans. Accounting for sea surface temperature, we calculate an average reduction in clear-sky outgoing long-wave radiation for the year 2006 of 0.48±0.14 W m−2 between 45∘ S and 45∘ N. This estimate of the clear-sky greenhouse effect from tropospheric ozone provides a critical observational constraint for ozone radiative forcing used in climate model predictions.

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Figure 1: TES ensemble sensitivities of TOA infrared flux to upper tropospheric ozone.
Figure 2: Annual average OLRc reduction from upper tropospheric ozone in W m−2.
Figure 3: Annual average flux reduction in 9.6 μm ozone band from tropospheric water vapour.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the TES project and science teams, who have made this analysis possible. We also thank D. Waliser at JPL, L. Mickley at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and J.-F. Lamarque at NCAR for useful discussions. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Author notes

  1. Helen M. Worden

    Present address: Present Address: Atmospheric Chemistry Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307, USA,

  2. Science Division, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helen M. Worden

  2. Kevin W. Bowman

Authors
  1. Helen M. Worden
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  2. Kevin W. Bowman
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  3. John R. Worden
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  4. Annmarie Eldering
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Contributions

H.M.W. drafted the manuscript, prepared the figures and developed the methods for estimating OLRc sensitivity. K.W.B. drafted sections for the manuscript and methods, and provided tools and interpretation for the principal component analysis. J.R.W. provided error estimates and analysis tools. A.E. provided analysis tools and interpretation. R.B. developed the TES experiment and instrument. R.B. and A.E. are responsible for project planning. All authors contributed to discussions of the results and preparation of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Helen M. Worden or Kevin W. Bowman.

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Worden, H., Bowman, K., Worden, J. et al. Satellite measurements of the clear-sky greenhouse effect from tropospheric ozone. Nature Geosci 1, 305–308 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo182

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