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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 63

GROUND BASED AND SATELLITE OZONE OBSERVATIONS, CHANGES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
by Professor C. Varotsos, University of Athens, Athens (Greece)

Increased concern about the anthropogenically induced ozone depletion and relevant increase of the surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation (including the erythermal part of the UV spectrum) has resulted in the growth of interest in total ozone (TOZ) surface and satellite observations, surface UV measurements (with an emphasis on UV-B) and the interpretation of observation results for the assessment of potential impacts of UV radiation enhancement on man and biosphere. The significance of this phenomenon varies from country to country. Special attention has been paid, for instance, to ozone depletion and UV radiation increase at high latitudes. It is equally clear, however, that low and mid-latitude environmental dynamics also requires careful monitoring and assessment of environmental trends. Such a conclusion is especially true for the Mediterranean region where numerous resorts are located and subject to excessive levels of Solar Ultraviolet Radiation. It should be pointed out, however, that presentations of this volume went far beyond the regional scale of consideration. This was very important, because it gave an opportunity to analyse the Mediterranean environmental situation in the broader context of European global changes. An important advantage of the Workshop's proceedings has also been the consideration of not only problems of TOZ and UV-B variability but also tropospheric ozone dynamics as well as those causes (chemical and photochemical reactions coupled with air transport) which are responsible for changes of the ozone concentration in the troposphere.

Total and tropospheric ozone variability takes place due to impacts of a number of factors whose contributions have not been realiably assessed as yet. A critical issue is a relationship between natural and anthropogenically induced changes. It is important that impacts of various factors should have been discussed (chemical and photochemical processes, meteorological conditions, impacts of stratospheric aerosols, solar activity etc.). In a substantial part of the papers tropospheric pollution has been considered in the context of ozone changes. Apart from the analysis of observation data, some key problems of numerical modelling have been discussed, such as tropospheric chemical composition changes, Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations, and others. The subject of a number of papers was the development of remote sensing techniques to retrieve minor optically active components of the atmosphere.

Thus, the programme of the Workshop and the content of the resulting proceedings (NATO ASI SERIES I53) are characterised by a systems approach to the solution of the problems considered which has been the basis of the successful accomplishment of the Workshop's aims.

Finally, this Workshop is dedicated to the memory of two scientists, the late Patrick Aimedieu and Kjell Henriksen.
Reference books: C227, G8, I7, I18, I32, I53

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