Ozone Research and Monitoring in Canada L.J. Bruce McArthur Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate Science and Technology Branch Environment Canada 7 th Meeting or the Ozone Research Managers 19 – 21 May 2008 Geneva, Switzerland

2 Contents Canadians and their environment Ozone / UV monitoring program (successes from chaos) Research & Associated Activities WMO Activities –WOUDC –WMO Brewer Activities Future activities and issues

3 Most Important Problem – Past 6 Months In your opinion, what is the most important problem facing Canadians today? Top 4 issues includes mentions of environment / pollution + climate change / global warming Environics Canadian Environmental Barometer, March 2008 Canadians and their Environment

4 (Unprompted) In your view, what is the most important environmental issue we face in Canada today? Environics Canadian Environmental Barometer, March 2008 Canadians and their Environment

5 Awareness of Environmental Laws/Initiatives Which of the following environmental laws or initiatives have you ever heard about? How about: Ipsos Reid, Environment Canadas Corporate Communications Survey, Spring 2007

6 Environment Canadas Role From what you may have heard, seen or read about Environment Canada, what roles do you think this federal government department currently plays in serving the Canadian public? Ipsos Reid Environment Canadas Corporate Communications Survey, Spring 2007

7 Ozone and UV Monitoring in Canada

8 Columnar Ozone and UV Network Duplication of Brewers in all northern locations Major Life-cycle management plan to replace all network instruments with MK IIIs Upgrades in operating software (including AOD and trace gas algorithms) and hardware Changes in funding envelope protects operational funding for present network

9 Ozonesonde Network Increase in total number of ozonesonde stations to 10 New stations are funded for tropospheric observations and pollution related activities –Transboundary flows –UTLS observations Move to GPS sondes International requests to operationalize network and increase frequency and number of stations Present departmental review of priorities places 3 sonde stations in jeopardy

10 FTIR Operations – Making a network EC Presently operates two Bomem DA8 Fourier Transform Spectrometers – Eureka, Nunavut and Egbert, Ontario University of Toronto has an operational FTIR in downtown Toronto Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change (CANDAC) has purchased new Bruker instrument for Eureka facility making DA8 redundant EC has funded project to refurbish Eureka DA8 and install this instrument at Bratts Lake, Saskatchewan CSA and Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS are collaborating to put a CSA FTIR at Dalhousie

11 Long-term FTIR observations from Eureka FTIR – Part of NDACC Network

12 Eureka DIAL LIDAR Observations – Polar Sunrise 2008 Arctic observational research is becoming increasingly expensive and therefore difficult to justify in a funding limited world New MOU with CANDAC for increased operation of LIDAR Collaborative efforts have succeeded in funding significant system upgrades

13 20 th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol Meeting in Montreal, QC provided increased opportunities –Completion of a Canadian Ozone Assessment Special addition of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society journal Atmosphere-Ocean Executive summary document released on MOP in Montreal – now on web: Provision of two Brewer Users Workshops as part of 20 th anniversary celebration: Manchester UK and Seoul Korea – information available at

14 IPY – Installation of a Brewer at S. Pole Collaborative effort between NOAA / NSF and EC Installation of Brewer MK III at Amundsen-Scott Base Additional means of measuring ozone beyond Dobson already at site. Addition of a Brewer MK III Spectrophotmeter gives: –Improved uncertainty characteristics at low solar elevations –Ability to obtain columnar ozone using moon as the source Collaborative effort provides cross-training of NOAA staff on the operation of the Brewer and NOAAs agreeing to operate the instrument Data is being archived in the WOUDC – first obs. Feb. 12

15 IPY – Collaboration on Arctic Chemistry and Ozone Increased ozonesonde launches in conjunction with the IPY MATCH program Additional ozonesonde launches associated with NASA Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) – April component completed, second stage in July Airborne spectrometer on Alfred Wegener Institute Research Aircraft POLAR 5 – flights across various parts of Canadian Arctic in search of BrO

16 WMO WOUDC Data CategoryNumber of PlatformsNumber of FilesRepresentative Years Lidar Ozonesonde12455, Total column ozone28058, 718 (monthly) Umkehr6410,000 monthly records, >50,000 retrievals

17 WMO Brewer Ozone Activities Two Brewer Workshops held in conjunction with 20 th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol Mini-workshop to be held at QOS EC continuing to maintain the reference triad Participating in international comparisons –SAUNA –Izania Received funding to upgrade the present ozone triad from MK II to MK III instruments – will select new instruments from most stable instruments either already purchased or in process of purchasing

18 Future Activities EC is moving away from looking at the stratosphere as a specific entity - BUT UV radiation remains important, particularly as it relates to human health – activities moving toward data fusion and use of satellite and surface data to obtain health related information (e.g. cancer rates) Interest is increasing on the use of vertical ozone obs for data assimilation – going back to Canadian ozone obs roots – this may protect ozonesonde stations for the long term and provide increased funding of ozone LIDAR development Model efforts are continuing and even increasing as data assimilation becomes more important in weather and air quality forecasting – includes universities and international collaborations

19 Future Activities Moving in two directions within the atmosphere: –a one atmosphere approach where interest is in how various parts of the atmosphere interact –Tropospheric air pollution activities – highly directed to mesh with governmental regulatory activities Use of surface-based remote sensing as a means of understanding tropospheric processes and understanding background constituent levels is increasing Increased interest in the Arctic and a lack of observations in this region opens possibilities for increased UV/Ozone monitoring – particularly as it pertains to ecosystems.

20 Issues Mandate driven research (3 – 4 years) is reducing ability to continue instrument development projects –On-going loss of highly qualified personnel –Inability to maintain scientific research facilities because of decreasing discretionary funding levels Global data archiving and observing for the purpose of satellite validation are no longer seen as important with respect to the departmental mandate