logo
logo logo
ETH Ambassadors

  • Home
  • #TOPICS
    • All Topics
    • Connecting & Exploring
    • Society
    • Events
    • Development & Sustainability
    • Science & Technology
  • #Tags
    • Sort by

      • ABC
      • Most used
      • Most recent
      • #myNYUAD
      • Abu Dhabi
      • aCentauri
      • Africa
      • Asia-Pacific
      • Berlin Science Week
      • Bloomberg
      • Chemistry
      • China
      • Climate Change
      • computer science
      • CSNOW
      • CYBATHLON
      • Digital Einstein
      • Diplomacy
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • EHW2023
      • Energy
      • Energy Transition
      • Engineering
      • ENHANCE
      • ETH Alumni
      • ETH Entrepreneurship
      • ETH Global Lecture
      • ETH GreenLabs
      • ETH Meets NY
      • ETH Meets You
      • ETH Meets You in Davos
      • ETH Student Project House
      • ETH Studios
      • ETH4Development
      • ETHCircle
      • Europe
      • Events
      • Exchange Programme
      • Exchange Semester
      • focusTerra
      • Food
      • Foresight
      • Future of Work
      • Geography
      • GYSS
      • Hackathon
      • Health
      • How we connect
      • How we cope
      • How we learn and work
      • How we reflect
      • How we respond creatively
      • Hyperloop
      • IChO 2023
      • Information Technology
      • Innovation in Architecture
      • Jets
      • Latin America
      • LINO23
      • Locarno Film Festival
      • Machine Learning
      • Mathematics
      • Milano Design Week
      • Nestlé
      • North America
      • Open Your Eyes
      • Projects
      • Quantum
      • Rebuilding Ukraine
      • RETHINKING LIVING
      • Robotics
      • Science Communications
      • Singapore-ETH Centre
      • Smart Cities
      • Solar Physics
      • South Asia
      • Space
      • Sports
      • Study Abroad
      • Summer Internship
      • Summer School
      • Sustainable Development Goals
      • Sustainable Switzerland
      • togETHer
      • United Nations
      • VSETH
      • WE ARE ETH
      • WEF Davos
      • your 2040

  • #TAGCLOUD
  • About
  • Submit
  • Search
  • Resilience in Adversity: Meeting Children from Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda
    Turning a new LEAF for lab sustainability
    Header orem ipsum dolor sit amet
logo logo
ETH Ambassadors

  • Home
  • About
  • #TOPICS
    • All Topics
    • Connecting & Exploring
    • Society
    • Events
    • Development & Sustainability
    • Science & Technology
  • #Tags
    • Sort by

      • ABC
      • Most used
      • Most recent
      • #myNYUAD
      • Abu Dhabi
      • aCentauri
      • Africa
      • Asia-Pacific
      • Berlin Science Week
      • Bloomberg
      • Chemistry
      • China
      • Climate Change
      • computer science
      • CSNOW
      • CYBATHLON
      • Digital Einstein
      • Diplomacy
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • EHW2023
      • Energy
      • Energy Transition
      • Engineering
      • ENHANCE
      • ETH Alumni
      • ETH Entrepreneurship
      • ETH Global Lecture
      • ETH GreenLabs
      • ETH Meets NY
      • ETH Meets You
      • ETH Meets You in Davos
      • ETH Student Project House
      • ETH Studios
      • ETH4Development
      • ETHCircle
      • Europe
      • Events
      • Exchange Programme
      • Exchange Semester
      • focusTerra
      • Food
      • Foresight
      • Future of Work
      • Geography
      • GYSS
      • Hackathon
      • Health
      • How we connect
      • How we cope
      • How we learn and work
      • How we reflect
      • How we respond creatively
      • Hyperloop
      • IChO 2023
      • Information Technology
      • Innovation in Architecture
      • Jets
      • Latin America
      • LINO23
      • Locarno Film Festival
      • Machine Learning
      • Mathematics
      • Milano Design Week
      • Nestlé
      • North America
      • Open Your Eyes
      • Projects
      • Quantum
      • Rebuilding Ukraine
      • RETHINKING LIVING
      • Robotics
      • Science Communications
      • Singapore-ETH Centre
      • Smart Cities
      • Solar Physics
      • South Asia
      • Space
      • Sports
      • Study Abroad
      • Summer Internship
      • Summer School
      • Sustainable Development Goals
      • Sustainable Switzerland
      • togETHer
      • United Nations
      • VSETH
      • WE ARE ETH
      • WEF Davos
      • your 2040

  • #TAGCLOUD
    • #Africa #Asia-Pacific #Climate Change #CYBATHLON #Diplomacy #Diversity & Inclusion #Energy Transition #Engineering #ENHANCE #ETH4Development #ETH Alumni #ETH Global Lecture #ETH Studios #Europe #Events #Exchange Programme #Food #Foresight #Future of Work #GYSS #Health #How we connect #How we cope #How we learn and work #How we reflect #How we respond creatively #Hyperloop #Information Technology #Innovation in Architecture #Latin America #Machine Learning #Mathematics #North America #Open Your Eyes #Quantum #RETHINKING LIVING #Robotics #Singapore-ETH Centre #Smart Cities #South Asia #Sports #Sustainable Development Goals #togETHer #WE ARE ETH #your 2040
  • Submit
  • Search

It’s the dawn of a new era for Swiss climate science

by Shane Richmond, 17 January 2020
Arosa, in the Swiss Alps is where ozone measurements began, almost 100 years ago. Now Arosa's Light Climatic Observatory is preparing to move to Davos.

The dominant climate story of the 1980s was the ozone layer. Concerns about the depletion of the ozone layer, a part of the stratosphere between 15 and 35km above the Earth's surface, date back to the 1970s but they took a decade to reach mainstream awareness.

The ozone layer is vital for absorbing the sun's harmful shortwave UV radiation, which causes skin cancer and affects marine ecosystems and agricultural productivity. In the mid-1980s the world became aware of 'holes' in the ozone layer, particularly over the poles - though in reality these are just very thin parts of the layer.
Arosa's Light Climatic Observatory is preparing to move to Davos. Photo by janine mk on Unsplash
During this period, measurements from an observatory in the Swiss Alps provided key data. The Light Climatic Observatory (Lichtklimatische Observatorium - LKO) in Arosa had been measuring ozone levels since the 1920s, making it the longest-running data set of its kind in the world. The data showed how much ozone levels had changed and provided persuasive evidence towards the creation of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an agreement to phase-out ozone depleting substances, such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in aerosols.

In 2021, the Light Climatic Observatory will complete its move to Davos, 13km away in an adjacent valley. While the move will end ozone measurements in Arosa, the work will go on.

A breath of fresh air

Tuberculosis is the reason that Arosa began to measure ozone levels, 60 years before most people in the world had any idea that they might be important. The bacterial infection is today tackled with immunisation and antibiotics but in the early 20th Century, before the availability of antibiotics, mountain air was thought to have healing properties. Many wealthy people travelled to the Alps to convalesce.

The Arosa spa and tourist office began to fund the LKO in the 1920s, aiming to attract more people by proving the healing power of the local air. By the 1940s, antibiotics were an available and accepted treatment for tuberculosis, so the measurements were no longer necessary - at least not for their original purpose.

However, Friedrich Gotz, the German scientist who founded LKO, managed to keep it funded beyond the 1940s and made a number of significant scientific contributions to atmospheric ozone research before his death in 1954.

Protecting the ozone layer

After Gotz's death, the continuation of ozone measurements was secured by the efforts of several scientists, notably Hans Ulrich Dutsch, a professor at ETH Zurich, who was interested in ozone's effects on weather forecasting.

By the 1970s scientists were beginning to suspect that CFCs were among the chemicals that were destroying ozone. The Montreal Protocol helped reduce emissions of substances that were depleting ozone, though the stratospheric ozone layer is not expected to recover until the middle of this century.

Meanwhile, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon emissions are leading to a rise in ozone in the troposphere - the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere - where it is harmful. The Swiss measurements were useful in tracking ozone levels in both layers - and are still necessary today as scientists work to determine how ozone levels and wider climate change effects influence one another.

Some time after ozone measurements began in Arosa, the Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium in Davos (PMOD) began measurements of its own. These continued in parallel for a very long time but in recent years plans have been developed to move all of the equipment to Davos. This will be the end of an era for Arosa and its pioneering work. However, the legacy will continue as Switzerland continues to play a vital role in climatology.

Related Posts

How to avoid MESTakes in South-East Asia: a Student Advice

February 18, 2025

Navigating Barriers in Qualitative Research

February 13, 2025

Brazil: Immersed in Nature, Driving the Energy Transition

October 3, 2024
  • global.ethz.ch

  • Subscribe to our Newsletter

    Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

© ETH Zurich Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of ETH Zurich. In addition, ETH Zurich is not responsible for the content of external links.
Data Protection
#Africa #Asia-Pacific #Climate Change #CYBATHLON #Diplomacy #Diversity & Inclusion #Energy Transition #Engineering #ENHANCE #ETH4Development #ETH Alumni #ETH Global Lecture #ETH Studios #Europe #Events #Exchange Programme #Food #Foresight #Future of Work #GYSS #Health #How we connect #How we cope #How we learn and work #How we reflect #How we respond creatively #Hyperloop #Information Technology #Innovation in Architecture #Latin America #Machine Learning #Mathematics #North America #Open Your Eyes #Quantum #RETHINKING LIVING #Robotics #Singapore-ETH Centre #Smart Cities #South Asia #Sports #Sustainable Development Goals #togETHer #WE ARE ETH #your 2040