Atmospheric chemistry from space: past, present, and future
Abstract
Over the last 100 years, huge strides have been made in our understanding of the composition and chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere, and satellites have played a major role in these advances. The first ideas to measure ozone from space were published in the late-1950s, prior to the first satellite images of the Earth (Explorer 6 in August 1959). By the late-1960s, vertical profiles of ozone were being made by the Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO-4) satellite, and in 1970 the backscatter ultraviolet (BUV) experiment with an instrument dedicated to ozone measurements was launched on the Nimbus 4 satellite. As is well known, ozone both absorbs ultraviolet (UV) and infrared radiation, and ozone is the principal screen for harmful UV radiation. The 1974 Nature paper by Mario Molina and Sherry Rowland uncovered the damaging effects of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on the ozone layer and pushed ozone observations into the forefront of science. The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole accelerated ozone research and increased observational efforts. This work quickly showed that CFCs were indeed leading to large Antarctic ozone depletion. Satellites now give us daily-global pictures of our atmosphere from pole-to-pole from European, US, and Asian satellites.
In this presentation I will discuss the history of atmospheric chemistry observations from space, with a particular emphasis on ozone from the mesosphere to the boundary layer. I will review current satellite capabilities and show how satellite observations and models are now merging to reveal comprehensive pictures of atmospheric composition and change. I will then provide some guesstimates and opinions on the future of atmospheric chemistry using model projections and some extrapolations of technology. In particular, I will discuss 1) a greater future ability to measure surface pollutants, 2) improvements in the interactive science of land-ocean-biosphere-atmosphere and their ability to do "bottom-up" emissions, 3) the future progression towards smaller satellites and new technologies combined with continually improving computer horsepower, and 4) the shifting of science towards societal needs of "warnings" and public policy information.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.A22B..01N
- Keywords:
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- 3310 Clouds and cloud feedbacks;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 3399 General or miscellaneous;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES