First detection of shipborne ozone soundings in the South China Sea

Ship-borne ozone soundings (0–30 km) campaign was firstly conducted in the South China Sea from 22 May to 15 June 2023. The goal of the campaign was to better investigate the ozone vertical structure over the Chinese sea. The ozone concentration in the boundary layer over the South China Sea is higher than that at the tropical marine sites. The balloon-borne measurements captured the finer ozone laminae structure, which is unable for satellite or reanalysis data to reproduce. Results show that ozone in the upper troposphere (~13.5 km) decreased significantly due to tropical cyclones transporting, while it slightly increased in the middle troposphere. These measurements data can be used to provide insights into the ozone chemical structure and support the long-term monitoring of ozone vertical evolution from the surface to the middle stratosphere over the oceanic regions.