WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom is active in many areas of stratospheric research including atmosphere processes, monitoring, modelling and impacts of W radiation. Research is commissioned by government departments, primarily the Department of Environment (DoE), the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and food (MAFF), the Department of Health (DH) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD: Meteorological Office), and through the research councils, mainly the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Bio-technology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Research is also supported by the European Union (EU) and industry

Current and planned activities include:

(1) Monitoring and Measurements

a) Ozone. Measurements are currently made by the Met. Office on behalf of the DoE using Dobson spectrophotometers and ozone sondes at Camborne in Southern England and Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. Weekly Information Bulletins reporting the state of the ozone layer over the UK are issued by the DoE during the winter and spring periods when ozone depletion is most likely.

b) Other Atmospheric Constituents and non-routine monitoring.

The chemical composition of the stratosphere is being monitored by the National Physics Laboratory (NPL) using a range of ground based remote sensing techniques. The NERC have initiated a programme of ground based remote sensing of the stratosphere using UV multi-channel array spectroscopy. An automated instrument was installed at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base at Faraday, Antarctica, in 1990. A second instrument was successfully deployed by University College. Wales at Lerwick during recent European experiments and is still being used for measurements of O₃ and NO₂ at Aberystwth. A third instrument with extended sensitivity and a star tracker (UVISTAR) has been assembled jointly by BAS and the University of Cambridge and was also deplored at Abisco, North Sweden. A second version of the UVISTAR instrument was deployed at Halley Bay, Antarctica, from January 1994.

c) UVB radiation. The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) monitor broad band UVB radiation at 6 sites across the UK. NRPB publish their data weekly during the summer months of the year. High- resolution spectral measurements of UVB radiation at the earth's surfaces have been made at Reading University on behalf of the DoE under clear slip conditions since 1989 and on a routine hourly basis since 1993. The Met. Office has developed a UV forecasting service warning of the dangers of erythema during low ozone episodes.

d) Ozone Depleting Substances. Long-term routine measurements of CFCs halons and other ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere are carried out for the DoE at Macehead in Southern Ireland as part of the international AGAGE network, and in Norfolk, UK.

(2) Laboratory Studies

The NERC support the Laboratory Studies in Atmospheric Chemistry programme, which covers atmospheric chemistry kinetics, gas phase and heterogeneous reactions related to ozone depletion and HCFC degradation in the troposphere.

(3) Modelling

a) A variety of atmospheric modelling activities related to simulation and prediction of ozone are on-going at the Met Office, the Daresbury Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (DRAL). AEA Technology and at several university departments. through the Universities Global Atmospheric Modelling Project (UGAMP). supported by the NERC and including the Centre for global Atmospheric Modelling (CGAM) and Atmospheric Chemistry Modelling Support Unit (ACMSU). At the Met. Office. models of UV radiation are also being developed further to investigate the effects of ozone changes on likely surface UV irradiances. From these irradiances, the effects on biological processes can be ascertained, complementing the Met. Office UV forecasting service.

b) Modelling the atmospheric budget of methyl l bromide has been a priority to further understand the global budget of this ozone depleting chemical. Additional work has been carried out by the University of East Anglia for the DoE to help quantify its sources and sinks.

(4) Coordination of European research

The coordination of stratospheric ozone research in Europe is provided through the European Ozone Research Coordination Unit in Cambridge which is funded jointly by the UK DoE and the EU. This Unit was involved in the organization of the successful European Arctic Stratosphere Ozone Experiment (EASOE) (winter 91/92) and Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Mid-Latitude Experiment (SESAME)(1994/5) campaigns which improved the understanding of stratospheric processes occurring at high and mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere. There was strong UK participation in both observational and modelling projects. The SESAME campaign demonstrated unequivocally of ozone occurred during winter 1994/5. UK models estimated depletion inside the polar vortex of about 40% locally at 17 km. A strategy for ozone layer research in Europe over the next three years is now being developed.

(5) International Reviews, Satellite Data and Data Archives

a) A number of experts from the UK contributed to the recent WMO Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1994. This assessment informed the Parties to the Montreal Protocol and has confirmed that stratospheric ozone continues to decline as a consequence emissions of ozone depleting substances.

b) Stratospheric Soundings. The Met. Office has carried out long-term monitoring of the performance of the Stratospheric Sounding units on the NOAA operational satellites. A seventeen year archive of daily fields of geopotential height, temperature and geostrophic winds has been produced and will continue to be developed at least until 1997. These data are available at the British Atmospheric Data Archive located at DRAL.

c) Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite(UARS). UARS data have been used to cross-validate data gathered during EASOE. Stratospheric analyses from the Met. Office have been used to help interpret UARS measurements Temperature and wind measurements from UARS have been assimilated as part of an EU sponsored project SODA (Studies of Ozone Distribution based Assimilated satellite measurements.)

(6) Impacts of UV radiation

a) Health. A major research initiative in UV and skin cancer is currently being established by the DH to look at: i) assessment of individual risk of developing skin cancer: ii) the impact of age and solar exposure; iii) the impact of patterns of solar exposure; iv) measurement of solar exposure: v) cellular aspects of skin cancer damage and repair mechanisms vi) the impact of alterations in behaviour; vii) the effectiveness of sun screens and viii) registration of skin cancer patients.

b) Natural and agricultural ecosystems. The research councils. NERC and BBSRC support programmes in UVB impact research. The NERC programme under the Terrestrial Initiative in Global Environmental Research (TIGER) supports UVB research on nautral ecosystems at the University of Cambridge, Universitv of Sheffield and at the NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology and Lancastcr University. The BBSRC programme on the Biological Adaptation to Global Environmental Change (BAGEC) supports research on the molecular effects of UVB radiation at the University of Manchester, University of St Andrews, University of Cambridge, University of Glasgow and at Horticultural Research International (HRI). The Department of the Environment has supported work on the impact of UVB radiation on UK vegetation at Lancaster University since 1989. This work has addressed the impacts of UVB on crop plant model systems that include pea, barley and wheat. It has also looked at crop plant and fungal phytopathogen interactions. MAFF have also commissioned research on the response of crop plants to UV-B radiation at Lancastcr University in collaboration with HRI. Responses to pea, barley, oil seed rape and field bean have been studied, under field and controlled environment conditions.

c) Fish. A 3 year study supported by MAFF has been investigating the effects of UVB on eggs and larvae of commercially important species. The study will finish in April 1996.