Quasi-biennial modulation of the Antarctic ozone depletion

• Main Authors: Lait, Leslie R., Schoeberl, Mark R., Newman, Paul A.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1989
• Subjects: 46; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19890066540

The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in total ozone and temperature has been extracted from 9 years of Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) observations and National Meteorological Center (NMC) analyses. Years in which QBO-related variations in the total ozone and temperature are positive are found to correspond to years with smaller September Antarctic total ozone hole decline rates and vice versa. The QBO appears to be responsible for September decline rate deviations up to 0.4 Dobson units (DU) per day. Also, the QBO at mid-latitudes appears to be better correlated with the 30-mbar tropical QBO winds than with those at 50 mbar. Possible mechanisms that would explain these phenomena are discussed.