Scientists concerned with the processes occurring in the stratosphere are becoming more and more aware of the role that the stratosphere may play in the global climate and in global change in general. This book focuses on the basic processes taking place in the stratosphere and on the stratospheric changes which may occur from either natural or anthropogenic forcing. Of major concern here is the consequence of the increasing Antarctic Ozone Hole and the possibility of similar processes occurring at northern latitudes. One of the expected consequences of the change in the stratospheric composition, mainly ozone depletion, is the change in the penetration of UV-B in the troposphere, at the surface, and in the top layers of the ocean. Monitoring and modeling of those changes are still in infancy, even though the implications may be of utmost importance for the entire biosphere. Several aspects of these consequences with regard to aquatic ecosystems, terrestrial vegetation and human health are presented by experts in these fields.

Inhalt
Basic Processes in the Stratosphere.- The Stratosphere: An Introduction.- Tropospheric Forcing of the Middle Atmosphere.- Processes associated with Stratospheric Ozone Decrease: Homogeneous Chemistry.- Heterogeneous Chemistry of Polar Stratospheric Clouds and Volcanic Aerosols.- Mixing Processes in the Extra Tropical Stratosphere.- The Methane Atmospheric Cycle.- Modelling of the Troposphere - Stratosphere System.- Three Dimensional Transport-Chemistry studies of the Stratosphere using Satellite Data together with Data Assimilation.- The Stratosphere in General Circulation Models.- The role of Radiation in the Stratosphere and its Representation in Models.- Influence of the Stratospheric Circulation Change on the Troposphere in the Northern Hemisphere Winter.- Natural and Anthropogenic forcing of the Middle Atmosphere: Detection of Trends.- Troposphere-Stratosphere coupling in the Tropics: the Role of El Nino and the QBO.- Some Influences responsible for the Interannual Variations in the Stratosphere of the Northern Hemisphere.- The Greenhouse Effect and Stratospheric change.- Long term Trend in the Middle Atmosphere Temperature.- Monitoring Stratospheric Ozone from Space.- Monitoring of Stratospheric Changes at the Jungfraujoch Station by HR-IR Solar Observations in support of the NDSC.- Recent Observational Results.- Preliminary Results of the European Arctic Campaign.- Major Results from SAGE II.- An overview of the Relevant Results from the ATMOS Missions of 1985 and 1992.- Monitoring and Modeling of UV changes in the Troposphere and at the Surface.- Atmospheric Changes and UV-B Monitoring.- Modeling of UV Penetration through the Atmosphere and Ocean.- Tropospheric Photochemistry and its Response to UV Changes.- Trends in Surface UV Radiation.- Biospheric Effects and Feedbacks resulting from Solar UV-B changes.- Implications of increased Solar UVB for Aquatic Ecosystems.- Implications of increased Solar UVB for Terrestrial Vegetation.- Implications of increased Solar UVB for Cancer Incidence.- Ultraviolet-Induced immune suppression and its relationship to stratospheric ozone depletion.