Stratospheric Ozone and Human Health Project
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WORLD
METEOROLOGICAL
ORGANIZATION |
UNITED NATIONS
ENVIRONMENT
PROGRAMME |
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Report of the Third Meeting of the Ozone Research Managers
SWITZERLAND
Switzerland is active in several areas of stratospheric ozone monitoring and
research. Monitoring is primarily performed at national institutions, e.g. the
Swiss Meteorological Institute (SMI), whereas research is mostly carried out at
University level by different groups at various locations in Switzerland.
Observations are performed either in situ or by different remote sensing
techniques making use of the electromagnetic spectrum from UV over visible
and infrared to the microwave region as well as mass spectroscopy.
Measurements are performed with experiments on the ground, balloons,
rockets, aircraft and from space. Most of the groups collaborate internationally
and take part in international field campaigns. Activities in monitoring UV-B
radiation are increasing.
Current and planned activities
Monitoring
Monitoring of ozone in the stratosphere and in the troposphere
is one of the main projects within the Swiss GAW (Global Atmospheric
Watch) program of which the overall responsibility resides with the SMI. The
ozone project is built up of seven subprograms:
Operational ozone measurements
balloon soundings from the aerological station in Payerne with Brewer-
Mast sondes
spectrophotometer measurements of ozone from Arosa
with Dobson #101 (for total column and Umkehr measurements)
with Dobson #62 (for total column and Umkehr measurements)
with Dobson #51 (for automatic Umkehr measurements)
with Brewer #40 (for total column, Umkehr and UV measurements)
with Brewer #72 (for total column and UV measurements)
Improvement of the Brewer-Mast ozone sounding technology (laboratory
calibration, field tests, comparison with other measuring systems)
Quality assurance and quality control
Re-evaluation and homogenization of ozone series
Climatology of tropospheric ozone
Climatology of stratospheric ozone (done at Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology, ETHZ)
Trend calculations, ozone-UV-B relationship, development of ozone and UV-B forecast models
Microwave measurements (done at University of Bern)
Development of a microwave receiver for monitoring after the year 2000
Completion of Umkehr and balloon soundings with microwave data
Swiss Radiation Monitoring is another of the main topics of the Swiss
GAW program. The ultimate goal is a network of stations measuring the UV
radiation at different altitudes and under different climatic conditions with
fully calibrated instruments yielding an accurate information concerning the
UV radiation. For that purpose, it is intended:
Implement a network of broadband instruments measuring UV-A and UV-B
Robertson Berger and Brewer instruments are already operated from Arosa
The global, diffuse and direct components of UV-B are intensively
investigated
at the World Radiation Center (WRC) at Davos and at Payerne
A new calibration method for instruments measuring in the UV-B spectral
range is developed at the WRC in Davos
Study the influence of meteorological (ozone, cloud cover, aerosols) and
geographical (altitude, albedo) parameters on the UV-B variability.
UV-B forecasting is presently under development.
Research and Instrument development
Microwave Radiometry:
Microwave radiometers are developed and operated by the Institute of
applied physics of the University of Bern
O3 profiles at 142 GHz from Bern compl. to NDSC Jungfraujoch
ClO profiles at 204 GHz from Jungfraujoch under improvement
H2O profiles at 183 GHz from aircraft typ. two flights/year, 20 ° -80 °N
H2O column at 21/31 GHz from Bern
These measurements contribute to the EC-project ESMOS. Within another
EC-project, EMCOR, a new microwave receiver with high sensitivity will be
built and operated from the NDSC station Jungfraujoch in 1998.
Data analysis
and validation of the MAS (Millimeterwave Atmospheric Sounder) of the
ATLAS 1-3 missions is continued.
Sun photometry:
A sun photometer with channels in the interval fron 300 to 1000nm is used
for the detection of the column density of O3 and H2O, as well as of the
optical depth and particle size distribution of aerosols. This instrument is
operated by the Institute of applied physics of the University of Bern from
different locations, primarily from Bern or the Jungfraujoch.
Mass spectrometry:
A new mass spectrometer operating in the ion mass range from 12-
500amu has been developed at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern
within the EC-project MACSIMS and operated from balloons and rockets,
measuring the ion composition of the stratosphere and providing profiles of
HNO3 and N2O5. Further flights are foreseen in the future.
UV-spectroscopy:
An UV-visible spectrometer using the tangent ray technique in occultation
has been developed for flights in stratospheric balloons by the Geneva
observatory.
Heterogeneous Chemistry is studied in laboratory experiments at the Ecole
Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne
