Planning & Monitoring

PROGRAMMES

Publications

Library

Learning

Meteoterm

Youth

Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW): monitoring of the ozone layer

GAW Research on Stratospheric Ozone

What is ozone?

Ozone is a special form of oxygen with the chemical formula
O3. The oxygen we breathe and that is so vital to life on earth is O2.

Ozone constitutes a very small part of our atmosphere, but its presence is nevertheless vital to human well-being. Most ozone resides high up in the atmosphere, between 10 and 40km above Earth's surface. This region is called the stratosphere and it contains about 90% of all the ozone in the atmosphere.

Why do we care about atmospheric ozone?

Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs some of the Sun’s biologically harmful ultraviolet radiation. Because of this beneficial role, stratospheric ozone is considered “good” ozone. In contrast, excess ozone at Earth’s surface that is formed from pollutants is considered “bad” ozone because it can be harmful to humans, plants, and animals. The ozone that occurs naturally near the surface and in the lower atmosphere is also beneficial because ozone helps remove pollutants from the atmosphere.

Video about atmospheric ozone:

English version: "The ozone hole", Q&A with Geir Braathen, WMO Senior Scientific Officer, Atmospheric Environment Research Division, Research Department.
French Version: "Le trou dans la couche d'ozone" Questions et réponses avec Geir Braathen, Fonctionnaire Scientifique Principal, Bureau de la Recherche Atmosphérique et de l’Environnement, Département de la Recherche, OMM.

Joint WMO/UNEP movie about the ozone layer: Click here.

WMO informs about the ozone layer

WMO informs about the state of the ozone layer in several ways.

WMO Arctic Ozone Bulletins

The Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization, in collaboration with the European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit, issues annual bulletins containing information on the development of the Arctic ozone layer over the course of each winter. The bulletins are based on data provided by WMO Members that operate atmospheric monitoring stations in the Arctic and satellites to observe ozone and related parameters globally.

2016
2006

The 2006 issue is the first joint WMO/EC Arctic Ozone Bulletin.

Near-real time plots from Antarctic stations

Click here to access the page with NRT plots.

WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletins

The first Bulletin for 2016 was published on 23 September. Click on the link below.


2016	2015

2014	2013

2012	2011

2010	2009

2008	2007

2006	2005

An Overview of the 2005 Antarctic Ozone Hole,
by Geir O. Braathen (Warning: 26 MByte)

Ozone web page of the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional of Argentina

The 9th Ozone Research Managers' Meeting: Geneva 14-16 May 2014

The World Meteorological Organization, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is arranged the 9th Meeting of the Ozone Research Managers of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in Geneva from 14-16 May 2014. The report from the Meeting can be found in Ozone Report no 54.

The 8th Ozone Research Managers' Meeting: Geneva 2-4 May 2011

The World Meteorological Organization, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is arranged the 8th Meeting of the Ozone Research Managers of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in Geneva from 2-4 May 2011. The report from the Meeting can be found in Ozone Report no. 53.

The 7th Ozone Research Managers' Meeting: Geneva 18-21 May 2008

The World Meteorological Organization, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is arranged the 7th Meeting of the Ozone Research Managers of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in Geneva from 18-21 May 2008. The report from the Meeting can be found in Ozone Report no. 51.

The 6th Ozone Research Managers' Meeting: Vienna 19-21 September 2005

The World Meteorological Organization, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is arranged the 6th Meeting of the Ozone Research Managers of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in Vienna from 19-21 September 2005. The report from the Meeting can be found in Ozone Report no. 48.

WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion


		2014

2010	2006	2002

More information about the WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessments of Ozone Depletion can be found at the ozone assessment web pages of NOAA.

Description of the GAW Ozone Observing System

The GAW total ozone and profile ozone networks were designated at baseline networks of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) in 2007. The documentation to describe the ozone observing system can be found here.

WMO/UNEP brochure on capacity building for ozone monitoring in developing countries

English

WMO brochure on the protection of the ozone layer

English

French

WMO coordinates the global ozone observing network

ozone observations

The WMO-GAW ozone observing system comprises more than 100 stations worldwide that measure total column ozone and ozone profiles in the troposphere and stratosphere. The WMO secretariat coordinates training and calibration excercises. The WMO-GAW World Calibration Centre for Dobson total ozone measurements is located at the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA. The WMO-GAW World Calibration Centre for Brewer total ozone measurements is located at Environment Canada.The WMO-GAW World Calibration Centre for ozonesonde measurements is located at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.

The WMO-GAW ozone observing system provides important data for the assessment of the state of the ozone layer and the data are used in the quadrennial WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion (see above). Data from Antarctica are delivered in near-real time and used in the WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletins (see above).

Data from the WMO-GAW ozone observing system are collected and stored at the WMO World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) at Environment Canada, Toronto.

Contributing Networks

Several observational networks are contributing to the overall GAW system. In the field of ozone observations these two networks are linked to GAW. Click on them to go to their respective web sites.

Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC)

Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozone Sonde Network (SHADOZ)

Ozone-related publications

17 March 2015: The following research article has been published under the SI2N initiatiave: Intercomparison of vertically resolved merged satellite ozone data sets: interannual variability and long-term trends. Click here to read the article, published in ACP.