Trends evolution of ozone between 1980 and 2000 at midlatitudes over the Southern Hemisphere: Decadal differences in trends

The variability of atmospheric midlatitudinal ozone between 1980 and 2000 over the Southern Hemisphere is discussed. The distribution of ozone and ozone change during the seasonal cycle is discussed using Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer Nimbus and Earth Probe data binned at 72 (30° longitude by 5° latitude) bins, between 60° and 30°S. Rather than using a standard trend approach, the annual mean time series for each bin were fitted with a cubic polynomial. The results show that in the zonal mean sense there is a sizable, latitude-dependent slowdown of the ozone loss from the early 1990s onward, but when individual bins are considered, significant longitudinal patterns of ozone change appear, with both positive (enhancement) and negative (depletion) changes in total ozone. Thus regional evolution remains important as an indicator both of chemical depletion evolution and the relation with climate. Such longitudinal behavior is limited in the subtropics and grows toward the subpolar edge of the sampled region. For example, a large decrease was observed over southern South America in the 1990s, but during the 1990s there was only a limited change. The analysis for January, June, and October over the 20-year period shows changes in the evolution along the year, both in time and space. Furthermore, such seasonally dependent changes reach a peak in October, as would be expected. The October pattern of interannual variability could be linked to Southern Annular Mode, though there probably are some other processes driving it. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.Fil:Canziani, P.O. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina