Responses of the tropospheric ozone and odd hydrogen radicals to column ozone change

The response of tropospheric ozone to a change in solar UV penetration due to perturbation on column ozone depends critically on the tropospheric NO_x (NO+NO₂) concentration. At high NO_x or a polluted area where there is net ozone production, a decrease in column ozone will increase the solar UV penetration to the troposphere and thus increase the tropospheric ozone concentration. However, the opposite will occur, for example, at a remote oceanic area where NO_x is so low that there is net ozone destruction. This finding may have important implication on the interpretation of the long term trend of tropospheric ozone. A change in column ozone will also induce change in tropospheric OH, HO₂, and H₂O₂ concentrations which are major oxidants in the troposphere. Thus, the oxidation capacity and, in turn, the abundances of many reduced gases will be perturbed. Our model calculations show that the change in OH, HO₂, and H₂O₂ concentrations are essentially independent of the NO_x concentration.