International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(3): 326-328, 2010 www.tapasinstitute.

org/journals/ijonas Tapas Institute of Scientific Research and Development, 2010

OZONE TRANSMITTANCE IN A MODEL ATMOSPHERE AT IKEJA, LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

O. Sowole Department of physics and mathematical Sciences, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-ode, Ogun State, Nigeria E-mail: segunsowole@yahoo.com; Tel: +234 8023531317 ABSTRACT Variation of ozone transmittance with height in the atmosphere for radiation in the 9.6 m absorption band was studied using Goodys model atmosphere, with cubic spline interpolation technique to improve the quality of the curve. The data comprising of pressure and temperature at different altitudes (0-22 km) for the month of December 2006 for Ikeja in Lagos State of Nigeria was used for the computation. Computed result showed that ozone transmittance increased with height, except for the altitudes 4km, 6km< Z 8km and 10km < Z 18km due to absorption by O3. Keywords: Absorption band, transmittance absorption coefficient, optical thickness, ozone

INTRODUCTION Ozone as one of the trace gases in the atmosphere, mostly found in the stratosphere absorbs the harmful radiation from the sun (ultraviolet radiation) and prevents it from striking the earth surface (Salby, 1996). Ozone transmittance is the ratio of the intensity of radiation passing through it, I, to the intensity of radiation before it passes through it, Io. It can also be expressed in other form. Earlier, Sowole (2004) showed the variation of ozone transmittance with height in the atmosphere using Elsasser and Culbertson (1960) atmospheric radiation table and Goody Houghtons model atmosphere (1977), in which transmittance increased with height. Due to the fact that ozone layer is being depleted (Levine, 1992) by the natural and human activities, transmittance by ozone in turn are being affected negatively. In this paper, variation in ozone transmittance with height at Ikeja, Lagos state Nigeria for the month of December 2006 was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS Goody (1954) model from Elsasser and Culbertson (1960) atmospheric radiation table was adopted for this work, where transmittance is expressed as: = (u*. L) where u* is expressed as: u* = u (P/Po){(To/T) } is defined as the ozone transmittance L is the generalized absorption coefficient u* is the theoretical optical thickness represented in this paper as theoretical ozone amount, which depends on pressure (P) and temperature (T) at different altitudes. Po and To are the standard conditions of pressure and temperature on the surface of the earth. The measured pressure (P) and temperature (T) of the ambient air at different altitudes, Z, (0-22 km) for Lagos obtained from Nigeria Meteorological Agency were used for the computation. This was shown in table 1. u represents empirical absorber amount, which is the empirical ozone amount and its generalized absorption coefficient L value of ozone, which were obtained from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory Ozone Sonde Vertical Profile Data Report (2006) taken at Huntsville, Alabama station, USA. 326

Sowole: Ozone transmittance in the atmosphere at Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria Table 1: Pressure and temperature at different altitudes for December Temperature (k) 297.6 289.7 278.4 259.7 246.8 240.9 229.6 207.9 203.7 197.9 192.8 187.7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Considering the results, figure I showed that the theoretical ozone amount u* increases with altitude, Z, but there was a drop at 2km < Z 4km, likewise at 6km < Z 8km and 10km < Z 18km after which there is sharp increase till Z = 22km. More so, ozone transmittance, , as shown in figure II got reduced in response to the result obtained for ozone amount at 2km < Z 4km, 6km < Z 8km and 10km < Z 18km as shown in figure I. Pressure (hPa) 1001.6 993.9 521.7 491.8 336.9 334.7 218.9 157.3 107.9 86.7 80.1 74.2 Height (km) 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0 20.0 22.0

Ozone amount u*

0 1 .0 2 (atm-cm) 0 1 .0 0 0 .0 8 0 0 .0 6 0 0 .0 4 0 0 .0 2 0 0 5 1 0 A ltitud Z(km e ) F 1 Va tio in o n a ou with a ig ria n zo e m nt ltitu de 1 5 2 0 2 5

Ozone transmittance

0 05 .0 0 04 .0 0 03 .0 0 02 .0 0 01 .0 0 0 5 1 0 15 20 2 5 A ltitude Z(km) F 2 Va tion in ozone transm ig ria ittanc with altitude e

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Sowole: Ozone transmittance in the atmosphere at Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria This is an indication that absorption of solar radiation (ultraviolet radiation) by O 3 took place at these exceptional altitudes as reported by Oluwafemi (1980), leading to photodissociation of ozone, causing reduction in ozone amount, likewise ozone transmittance. CONCLUSION The result shows that ozone transmittance increases with altitude or height, Z, except for 4km, 6km < Z 8km, and 10km < Z 18km for the month of December, 2006 at Ikeja due to absorbed harmful radiation (ultraviolet radiation) from the sun by O3 leading to photo-dissociation of ozone, causing reduction in ozone transmittance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author wishes to thank the staff of Nigeria Meteorological Agency, Oshodi, Lagos for providing some of the data used in this work. Special thanks to Daryl Myers of Electric Systems Centre NREL MS 3411 for linking the author with US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory and for useful information on empirical ozone amounts and generalized absorption coefficient. REFERENCES Elsasser, W. M. and Culbertson, M. F. (1960). Atmospheric radiation tables. Meteorological Monographs, 4(23): 7-9. Houghton, J. T. (1977). The Physics of atmospheres. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Levine, J. S. (1992). Ozone climate and global atmospheric change. Science Activities, 29(1): 6. Oluwafemi, C. O. (1980). Some measurements of the extinction coefficient of solar radiation in Lagos. Pure Appl. Geophys., 118: 775-782. Salby, L. M. (1996). Fundamentals of atmospheric physics. Academic Press, San Diego, California. Sowole, O. (2004). Transmittance by ozone in a model atmosphere. MSc. Thesis, University of Lagos, Nigeria. US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory Ozone Sonde Vertical Profile Data Report (2006).

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