Comment on “Observation of large and all-season ozone losses over the tropics” [AIP Adv. 12, 075006 (2022)]
Source abstract
Abstract
Lu (2022) (hereafter L2022) used the Trajectory-mapped Ozonesonde dataset for the Stratosphere and Troposphere (TOST) to argue that there has been very substantial ozone depletion (>80%) in the tropical (30°S–30°N) lower stratosphere (LS) since the 1960s. This was labeled a “large and all-season ozone hole.” Here, we show that this claim is false due to erroneously large tropical ozone values in the interpolated sparse historical TOST data. In addition, L2022 repeats the suggestion made in a number of the author’s earlier papers that cosmic rays are involved in stratospheric ozone depletion. This claim is also not valid; a huge body of work has explained the observed stratospheric ozone depletion through a well-established gas phase and heterogeneous chemistry following the emission of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) through human activities. We expand on these points below. In particular, we present a simple analysis of the TOST dataset used by L2022 and show its unsuitability for the application performed. In contrast, we then summarize the much smaller observed variations in ozone in the tropical LS based on many international efforts of data validation and quality assurance, which are not cited by L2022. We then discuss flaws in the cosmic-ray electron-induced mechanism proposed by L2022 as being the main driver of stratospheric ozone losses.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Atmospheric Ozone and Climate · Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds 1 , Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Leeds 2 , Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
NASA Langley Research Center 3 , Hampton, Virginia 23681, USA
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre 4 , Oberpfaffenhofen, 82230 Wessling, Germany
Environment and Climate Change Canada 5 , Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada
Science Systems and Applications, Inc. 6 , Lanham, Maryland 20706, USA
LATMOS, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, CNRS 7 , 75005 Paris, France
Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto 8 , Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
IEK-7, Forschungszentrum Jülich 9 , 52425 Jülich, Germany
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, CU Boulder 10 , Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
NOAA GML 11 , Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology 12 , Pasadena, California 91109, USA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 13 , Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
University of Maryland Baltimore County 14 , Baltimore, Maryland 21228, USA
Institut für Umweltphysik, University of Bremen 15 , 28344 Bremen, Germany
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University 16 , Lancaster LA1 4YQ, United Kingdom
Funding
European Space Agency · Jet Propulsion Laboratory · Natural Environment Research Council
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