Global tropical and extra-tropical tropospheric ozone trends and radiative forcing deduced from satellite and ozonesonde measurements for the period 2005–2020

Abstract

Tropospheric ozone (TPO) is considered as a "near-term climate forcer”, whose impact on climate depends on its radiative forcing (RF), which is a change in the Earth's energy flux. Here, we use the ground-based and satellite measurements during the period 2005–2020 to deduce the trends of TPO, which is significantly positive in the tropical and extra-tropical northern hemisphere (0.2–0.5 DU/yr) and southern extra-tropics (0.1–0.2 DU/yr). Furthermore, the trends derived using a multiple linear regression model (MLR) also confirm these estimates, which are about 0.05–0.1 DU/yr and the regions with higher trends (>0.06 DU/yr) are statistically significant. We also use a standalone Rapid Radiative Transfer Model coupled with a convective model (Radiative-Convective Model; RCM) to assess the climate forcing of ozone using its vertical profiles from the Modern Era Retrospective Reanalysis (MERRA)-2 reanalysis. The estimated temperature rise due to the radiative forcing of ozone in the tropical troposphere (1000–100 hPa) is about 0.2–0.3 °C for the study period. In brief, there is a positive trend in the tropospheric ozone in the tropics and extra-tropics, which is a great concern for regional warming, public health and ecosystem dynamics.