Ozone depletion at northern and southern latitudes derived from January 1979 to December 1991 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer Data
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- Hughes-STX Corporation, Lanham, MD (United States)
Long-term ozone depletion rates (percentage change) have been computed from 13 years of Nimbus 8/Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data as a function of latitude, longitude, and month for the period January 1, 1979, to December 31, 1991. In both hemispheres the amount of ozone has decreased at latitudes above 30{degrees} by amounts that are larger than predicted by homogeneous chemistry models for the 13-year time period. The largest rates of ozone decrease occur in the southern hemisphere during winter and spring, with partial recovery during the summer and autumn. Outside of the Antarctic ozone hole region, the 12-year ozone depletion rates reach 8-10% per decade during the winter and spring at 55{degrees}S. Ozone depletion rates in excess of 7% per decade occur over populated regions in the southern hemisphere poleward of 45{degrees}S for 7 months of the year. Similar rates of decrease occur during northern winter and spring over large populated regions. The enhanced zonal average ozone depletion rates at northern mid-latitudes (40-50{degrees}N) during January, February, and March, that correspond to five geographically localized regions of high ozone depletion rates, are probably associated with long-term dynamical or temperature changes. Only the equatorial band between {+-}20{degrees} shows little or no long-term ozone change since January 1979. Ozone time series data have been examined for effect of volcanic eruptions on stratospheric ozone observed by TOMS, with only the Mount Pinatubo stratospheric aerosol injection affecting ozone amounts for a few months after the eruption in June 1991. Errors caused by the short-term presence of stratospheric aerosols in the TOMS zonally averaged ozone data are less than 1% before correction, and have no significant effect on ozone trend determination. 49 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 91354
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 98, Issue D7; Other Information: PBD: 20 Jul 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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