Ozone and Climate

CFC and ozone contribute to a lesser extent than CO2 and methane to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. They absorb in the infrared region and add therefore to the warming of the lower atmosphere. The increase of CO2 in the stratosphere, however, leads to a cooling in the upper atmosphere and it is expected that more PSCs can be formed that will destroy more ozone. On the other hand, many climate models now show that a changing climate will slow down chemical reactions and change stratospheric circulation pattern in such a way that the expected ozone recovery may be accelerated in the coming decades. Many of these processes, however, are not yet well understood, and there is a strong need for further research in terms of the interaction of ozone and climate, and for continuing global observations of the atmospheric ozone layer over the next decades.

(next page: Monitoring the stratospheric ozone layer using satellite measurements)

Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP) Institut of Remote Sensing (IFE) University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1 28359 Bremen Deutschland contact to the IUP