Observational ozone datasets over the global oceans and polar regions (version 2024)

Abstract. Studying tropospheric ozone over the remote areas of the planet, such as the open oceans and the polar regions, is crucial to understand the role of ozone as a global climate forcer and regulator of atmospheric oxidative capacity. A focus on the pristine oceanic and polar regions complements the available land-based datasets and provides insights into key photochemical and depositional loss processes that control the concentrations and spatiotemporal variability in ozone as well as the physicochemical mechanisms driving these patterns. However, an assessment of the role of ozone over the oceanic and polar regions has been hampered by a lack of comprehensive observational datasets. Here, we present the first comprehensive collection of ozone data over the oceans and the polar regions. The overall dataset consists of 77 ship cruises/buoy-based observations and 48 aircraft-based campaigns. The dataset, consisting of more than 630 000 independent ozone measurement data points covering the period from 1977 to 2022 and an altitude range from the surface to 5000 m (with a focus on the lowest 2000 m), allows systematic analyses of the spatiotemporal distribution and long-term trends over the 11 defined ocean/polar regions. The datasets from ships, buoys, and aircraft are complemented by ozonesonde data from 29 launch sites or field campaigns and by 21 non-polar and 17 polar ground-based station datasets. The datasets contain information on how long the observed air masses were isolated from land, as estimated by backward trajectories from the individual observation points. To extract observations representative of oceanic conditions, we recommend using a subset of the data with an isolation time of 72 h or longer, from the analysis with coincident radon observations. These filtered oceanic and polar data showed typically flat diurnal cycles at high latitudes, whereas daytime decreases in ozone (11 %–16 %) were observed at lower latitudes. The ship/buoy- and aircraft-based datasets presented here will supplement the land-based ones in the TOAR-II (Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report Phase II) database to provide a fully global assessment of tropospheric ozone. The described dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.17596/0004044 (Kanaya et al., 2025).

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Publication Details

Journal
Earth system science data
Published
2025-09-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4901-2025
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.60

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article

Observational ozone datasets over the global oceans and polar regions (version 2024)

Pierre Tulet, Hélène Angot, Ilann Bourgeois, Marios Panagi et al.
2 citations
Earth system science data
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
2.60
article

Observational ozone datasets over the global oceans and polar regions (version 2024)

Pierre Tulet, Hélène Angot, Ilann Bourgeois, Marios Panagi, Matthew Rowlinson, B. M. Lerner, Aurélie Colomb, Juan Carlos Gómez Martı́n, John W. Halfacre, Suzie Molloy, Rainer Volkamer, K. C. Aikin, Thomas B. Ryerson, Roeland Van Malderen, Yugo Kanaya, Alfonso Saiz‐Lopez, P. B. Shepson, Kaori Kawana, Theodore K. Koenig, Meehye Lee, Martin G. Schultz, Iván Ortega, Masatomo Fujiwara, D. D. Parrish, Julia Schmale, Andrea Mazzeo, E. J. Williams, Amir A. Aliabadi, Roberto Sommariva, Jeff Peischl, Junsu Gil, Debra E. Kollonige, Chelsea R. Thompson, A. J. Weinheimer, F. Flocke, Katie Read, T. Campos, Fumikazu Taketani, Detlev Helmig, S. Coburn, J. R. Spackman, Anoop S. Mahajan, Ryan M. Stauffer, I. E. Galbally, Ralf M. Staebler, Hisahiro Takashima, Matthew D. Shupe, Byron Blomquist, Junichi Kurokawa, Yoko Iwamoto, I. B. Pollack, James D. Lee, Wanmin Gong, Mónica Navarro-Comas, J. S. Holloway, James E. Johnson, Gao Chen, Anne M. Thompson, Keiichi Sato
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Abstract. Studying tropospheric ozone over the remote areas of the planet, such as the open oceans and the polar regions, is crucial to understand the role of ozone as a global climate forcer and regulator of atmospheric oxidative capacity. A focus on the pristine oceanic and polar regions complements the available land-based datasets and provides insights into key photochemical and depositional loss processes that control the concentrations and spatiotemporal variability in ozone as well as the physicochemical mechanisms driving these patterns. However, an assessment of the role of ozone over the oceanic and polar regions has been hampered by a lack of comprehensive observational datasets. Here, we present the first comprehensive collection of ozone data over the oceans and the polar regions. The overall dataset consists of 77 ship cruises/buoy-based observations and 48 aircraft-based campaigns. The dataset, consisting of more than 630 000 independent ozone measurement data points covering the period from 1977 to 2022 and an altitude range from the surface to 5000 m (with a focus on the lowest 2000 m), allows systematic analyses of the spatiotemporal distribution and long-term trends over the 11 defined ocean/polar regions. The datasets from ships, buoys, and aircraft are complemented by ozonesonde data from 29 launch sites or field campaigns and by 21 non-polar and 17 polar ground-based station datasets. The datasets contain information on how long the observed air masses were isolated from land, as estimated by backward trajectories from the individual observation points. To extract observations representative of oceanic conditions, we recommend using a subset of the data with an isolation time of 72 h or longer, from the analysis with coincident radon observations. These filtered oceanic and polar data showed typically flat diurnal cycles at high latitudes, whereas daytime decreases in ozone (11 %–16 %) were observed at lower latitudes. The ship/buoy- and aircraft-based datasets presented here will supplement the land-based ones in the TOAR-II (Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report Phase II) database to provide a fully global assessment of tropospheric ozone. The described dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.17596/0004044 (Kanaya et al., 2025).

Earth system science dataVol. 17(9)
Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR), NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (BE), Hiroshima University (JP), Ames Research Center (US), CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (AU), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP), Langley Research Center (US), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IN), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), Cyprus Institute (CY), University of Leicester (GB), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE), University of Cologne (DE), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Korea University (KR), Université Clermont Auvergne (FR), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK), University of Washington (US), Hokkaido University (JP), NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (US), Fukuoka University (JP), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), ION Engineering (United States) (US), Laboratoire d'Aérologie (FR), Aerodyne Research (US), National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (ES), Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (FR), NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (US), State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (CN), NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (US), Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique (FR), Korea Basic Science Institute (KR), Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Alimentación (ES), Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (JP), Laboratoire d'Informatique en Images et Systèmes d'Information (FR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH), University of York (GB), Stony Brook University (US), Lancaster University (GB), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR), University of Birmingham (GB), University of Guelph (CA), University of Hong Kong (HK), Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (GR), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Marine National Facility, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Natural Environment Research Council, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, JST-Mirai Program
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
2.60
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