The effect of the passage of cold fronts on the vertical distribution of ozone at the CHMI observatory at Prague-Libuš

✍ Scribed by T. Halenka; J. LašTovička; S. Radicella

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 586 KB
• Volume: 120
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49712051915

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The response of the total ozone content to meteorological phenomena of a synoptic scale has been studied for many years and is relatively well known now. Much less is known about the response of the ozone profile to such meteorological phenomena. In this paper the response of the shape of the ozone profile to the passage of intense cold fronts and to strong advection from a significantly northern direction is investigated using the results of ozone soundings carried out by the observatory of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) in Prague‐Libuš during the period January to April for the years 1981 to 1990. Some data from Uccle (Belgium) have also been used.

The synoptic patterns studied here were those that were followed by the occurrence of secondary peaks in ozone profiles between the tropopause height (often significantly decreased during such events) and the usual height of the main ozone maximum. Such secondary peaks can be sometimes even larger than the usual ozone maximum. The observed changes in ozone profiles could be explained by the transport of air of polar origin having a greater ozone content in the lower stratosphere behind the upper‐level frontal zone.