UVSAT Group

UVSAT is part of the Section "Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere" (Prof. Hartmut Bösch). Our research encompasses

  • satellite remote sensing
  • trace gas retrieval / inversion theory
  • atmospheric chemistry and dynamics
  • ozone-climate interaction
  • solar physics

Our focus are ozone measurements in the UV spectral range from satellites. We investigate advanced retrieval methods of different data products, including ozone columns, ozone vertical profiles, and tropospheric ozone. Scientific goals are trend analyses ("recovery of the ozone layer", "air pollution"), the interaction between ozone and climate, and ozone losses in polar regions ("ozone hole"). We also investigate solar variability from UV to near infrared from satellite measurements.

Our work mainly bases on data recieved from the satellite instruments GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment, 1995-2011), SCIAMACHY (SCanning ImAging spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY, 2002-2012), GOME-2 (since 2007), OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument, since 2004), OMPS (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite, since 2012), and TROPOMI (since 2018).

Head of the group is Mark Weber, Ph.D.

Antarctic ozone hole in October as observed by the satellite instruments GOME, SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, and TROPOMI. The total ozone columns were retrieved with our scientific algorithm based upon the weighting function differential optical absorption technique (WFDOAS). In 2015 and 2018 the area of the Antarctic ozone hole was among the largest on record. In 2019 the ozone hole was among the smallest. The last four years (2020-2023) the size of the ozone holes were larger than the long-term mean of the last decade, possibly linked to the Australian wildfires (2020) and the volcanic eruptions from La Soufriere (2021) and Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha'apai (2022) injecting large amounts of water vapor and/or aerosols into the stratosphere (above 10 km altitude). If you hover your mouse over the image, you observe ozone anomalies with respect to the long-term mean from 1995-2024. The ozone anomalies more clearly show the ozone variability over the Antarctic in- and outside the ozone hole.

Apart from the variations in ozone hole sizes from year-to-year, Antarctic and Arctic ozone is on its slow path to recover due the ongoing decline in man-made ozone-depleting substances (ODS) as mandated by the Montreal Protocol and its Amendements. Models predict that Antarctic ozone will reach the level of 1980 in the middle of this century.