Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

A hiatus in the stratosphere?

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 497–498 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

To the Editor —

The answer to this mystery lies in recent changes in lower-stratospheric ozone concentrations. Since the 1970s global total column ozone has been decreasing as a result of human emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS), primarily chlorofluorocarbons3. Ozone absorbs solar and infrared radiation. A decrease in ozone concentrations therefore drives stratospheric cooling2,3.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Stratospheric and surface temperature evolution and influences since 1979.

References

  1. Fyfe, J. C., Gillett, N. P. & Zwiers, F. W. Nature Clim. Change 3, 767–769 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Schwarzkopf, M. D. & Ramaswamy, V. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L03705 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2014 (WMO, 2014).

  4. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (UNEP, 2000); http://go.nature.com/CZR6gs

  5. Shepherd, T. G. et al. Nature Geosci. 7, 4439–449 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  6. McLandress, C. et al. J. Clim. 27, 8646–8660 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Stolarski, R. S. et al. J. Clim. 23, 28–41 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ramaswamy, V. et al. Science 311, 1138–1141 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Gillett, N. P. et al. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 11, 599–609 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hegglin, M. I. et al. Nature Geosci. 7, 768–778 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hansen, J. et al. Rev. Geophys. 48, RG4004 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Morgenstern, O. et al. J. Geophys. Res. 115, D00M02 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Eyring, V. et al. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10, 9451–9472 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This Correspondence was inspired by discussions with third-year Mathematics undergraduates at the University of Exeter: C. Serjeant, R. Illingworth, G. Beresford, D. Mehta, M. Stanton and A. Clements. We acknowledge the modelling groups for making their simulations available for this analysis, the Chemistry-Climate Model Validation (CCMVal) Activity for WCRP's (World Climate Research Programme) SPARC (Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate) project for organizing and coordinating the model data analysis activity, and the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) for collecting and archiving the CCMVal model output. We thank T. Shepherd for helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was supported by the NERC PROBEC project NE/K016016/1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK

    A. J. Ferraro, M. Collins & F. H. Lambert

Authors
  1. A. J. Ferraro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Collins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. F. H. Lambert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. J. Ferraro.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ferraro, A., Collins, M. & Lambert, F. A hiatus in the stratosphere?. Nature Clim Change 5, 497–498 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2624

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2624

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing