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Atmosphere
Special Issues
Cosmic Rays, Ozone Depletion and Climate Change
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Cosmic Rays, Ozone Depletion and Climate Change

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 1317

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Qing-Bin Lu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Departments of Biology and Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Interests: ozone depletion; climate change; cosmic-ray driven reactions in atmospheric processes; dissociative-electron-transfer reactions of molecules; chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); cancer therapy; immune defense; femtochemistry, femtobiology and femtomedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cosmic rays (CRs) are energetic charged particles (mostly protons) originating from deep space. CRs are the major source of ionization in the stratosphere and troposphere below 60 km, which may affect the Earth's atmosphere, environment and climate. Atmospheric ionization caused by primary CRs leads to the formation of numerous lower-energy secondary particles, which may affect various atmospheric processes: (1) charge-dependent formation of aerosol particles and clouds, (2) charge-induced adsorption on aerosol or cloud particle surfaces, (3) charge-induced chemical reactions, and (4) changes in the global electric circuit. Several intriguing connections between CR flux variations and atmospheric processes such as stratospheric ozone depletion and low cloud cover have been observed, and physical mechanisms for the impacts of CRs have been proposed. However, they need to be investigated further to obtain a reliable and quantitative understanding of the CR effects on Earth’s atmosphere, environment and climate on a global scale, likely through co-interactions with anthropogenic drivers.

This Special Issue invites original or review papers on the state-of-the-art knowledge in different aspects of impact of CRs and low-energy secondary charged particles (electrons and ions) on the atmospheric ozone layer, global climate, space weather and atmospheric electricity. Results from laboratory measurements, observations (in situ and remote sensing), and modelling studies are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Qing-Bin Lu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cosmic rays
  • atmospheric ionization
  • ozone depletion
  • climate change
  • atmospheric negative-ion chemistry
  • cosmic ray–cloud links
  • halogen-containing compounds
  • chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
  • dissociative electron attachment
  • dissociative electron transfer
  • atmospheric radical chemistry
  • space weather
  • atmospheric charging and electricity
  • solar cycles
  • ecological and health effects of cosmic rays

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1242 KiB  
Article
Mesospheric Ozone Depletion during 2004–2024 as a Function of Solar Proton Events Intensity
by Grigoriy Doronin, Irina Mironova, Nikita Bobrov and Eugene Rozanov
Atmosphere 2024, 15(8), 944; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15080944 - 6 Aug 2024
Viewed by 205
Abstract
Solar proton events (SPEs) affect the Earth’s atmosphere, causing additional ionization in the high-latitude mesosphere and stratosphere. Ionization rates from such solar proton events maximize in the stratosphere, but the formation of ozone-depleting nitrogen and hydrogen oxides begins at mesospheric altitudes. The destruction [...] Read more.
Solar proton events (SPEs) affect the Earth’s atmosphere, causing additional ionization in the high-latitude mesosphere and stratosphere. Ionization rates from such solar proton events maximize in the stratosphere, but the formation of ozone-depleting nitrogen and hydrogen oxides begins at mesospheric altitudes. The destruction of mesospheric ozone is associated with protons with energies of about 10 MeV and higher and will strongly depend on the intensity of the flux of these particles. Most studies investigating the impact of SPEs on the characteristics of the middle atmosphere have been based on either simulations or reanalysis datasets, and some studies have used satellite observations to validate model results. We study the impact of SPEs on cold-season ozone loss in both the northern and southern hemispheres using Aura MLS mesospheric ozone measurements over the 2004 to 2024 period. Here, we show how strongly SPEs can deplete polar mesospheric ozone in different hemispheres and attempt to evaluate this dependence on the intensity of solar proton events. We found that moderate SPEs consisting of protons with an energy of more than 10 MeV and a flux intensity of more than 100 pfu destroy mesospheric ozone in the northern hemisphere up to 47% and in the southern hemisphere up to 33%. For both hemispheres, the peak of winter ozone loss was observed at about 76 km. In the northern hemisphere, maximum winter ozone loss was observed on the second day after a solar proton event, but in the southern hemisphere, winter ozone depletion was already detected on the first day. In the southern hemisphere, mesospheric ozone concentrations return to pre-event levels on the ninth day after a solar proton event, but in the northern hemisphere, even on the tenth day after a solar proton event, the mesospheric ozone layer may not be fully recovered. The strong SPEs with a proton flux intensity of more than 1000 pfu lead to a maximum winter ozone loss of up to 85% in the northern hemisphere, and in the southern hemisphere winter, ozone loss reaches 73%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cosmic Rays, Ozone Depletion and Climate Change)
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13 pages, 8818 KiB  
Article
Precursory Signs of Large Forbush Decreases in Relation to Cosmic Rays Equatorial Anisotropy Variation
by Maria-Christina Papailiou, Maria Abunina, Helen Mavromichalaki, Nataly Shlyk, Semyon Belov, Artem Abunin, Maria Gerontidou, Anatoly Belov, Victor Yanke and Amalia Triantou
Atmosphere 2024, 15(7), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15070742 - 21 Jun 2024
Viewed by 427
Abstract
Forbush decreases are usually characterized by increased values of cosmic ray anisotropy. The precursory signs, i.e., pre-increases and especially pre-decreases of the cosmic ray intensity, are highly anisotropic phenomena that ordinarily forewarn of such events. Two Cosmic Ray Groups from the National and [...] Read more.
Forbush decreases are usually characterized by increased values of cosmic ray anisotropy. The precursory signs, i.e., pre-increases and especially pre-decreases of the cosmic ray intensity, are highly anisotropic phenomena that ordinarily forewarn of such events. Two Cosmic Ray Groups from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN) have been investigating the existence of precursory signs preceding Forbush decreases in relation to different solar phenomena, interplanetary parameters, and geomagnetic conditions. In this study, large Forbush decreases (magnitude > 5%) accompanied by geomagnetic storms (i.e., geomagnetic index Dst < −100 nT and 5 ≤ Kp-index ≤ 9) and characterized by an equatorial anisotropy 1 h before the onset of the event (Axyb, %) less than 0.8% were examined regarding precursors. In total, 50 events with the aforementioned features were selected and analyzed from the IZMIRAN’s Forbush Effects and Interplanetary Disturbances database concerning the time period from 1969 until 2023. The Ring of Stations method, which depicts the cosmic ray variations for various asymptotic longitudes in relation to time, was applied on each event. The results revealed that clear signs of pre-decreases were not present for the majority of the events. Since particularly strong events were considered, most of them still showed some precursory signs, albeit mainly weak. Despite this, the value of Axyb = 0.8% proves to be a good threshold for the manual selection of FDs with well-expressed precursors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cosmic Rays, Ozone Depletion and Climate Change)
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