Record Low Global Ozone in 1992

Abstract

The 1992 global average total ozone, measured by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on the Nimbus-7 satellite, was 2 to 3 percent lower than any earlier year observed by TOMS (1979 to 1991). Ozone amounts were low in a wide range of latitudes in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, and the largest decreases were in the regions from 10 degrees S to 20 degrees S and 100N to 60 degrees N. Global ozone in 1992 is at least 1.5 percent lower than would be predicted by a statistical model that includes a linear trend and accounts for solar cycle variation and the quasi-biennial oscillation. These results are confirmed by comparisons with data from other ozone monitoring instruments: the SBUV/2 instrument on the NOAA-11 satellite, the TOMS instrument on the Russian Meteor-3 satellite, the World Standard Dobson Instrument 83, and a collection of 22 ground-based Dobson instruments.

Description of the long-term ozone data series obtained from different instrumental techniques at a single location: the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (43.9°N, 5.7°E)

“…The Nimbus 7 TOMS provides total ozone measurements on nearly every day from November 1978 until May 1993 (Stolarski et al, 1991;Gleason et al, 1993). The TOMS measurements are used mainly for validation purposes.…”

“…Satellite and ground-based measurements have demonstrated that ozone depletion has been occurring for almost two decades on a global scale [Stolarski et al, 1992;Gleason et al, 1993;World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 1994]. Of particular interest are the trends observed in the northern hemisphere midlatitudes which occur over highly populated areas.…”

An Estimation of the Radiative Effect in the Stratosphere due to the Pinatubo Aerosol

“…Positive anomalies greater than 2 K could still be seen between 30°N and20°S in February 1992 (Kawamata et al, 1992). A significant decrease of NO2 (Perliski and Solomon, 1992;Koike et al, 1993) and 03 (Gleason et al, 1993;Tie et al, 1994) occurred through the heterogeneous chemical reactions on the sulfate aerosol surface (e.g., Brasseur and Granier, 1992).…”

Ozone and water vapour in the austral polar stratospheric vortex and sub-vortex

“…Such loss equates to the removal of 3% of the world's ozone in a period of six weeks, demonstrating just how rapidly the global state of the atmosphere can change (Anderson et al, 1991). The ozone hole of 1992 showed a very dramatic demonstration of the rate of ozone depletion during austral spring, as measured ozone amounts were about 50% of that of 1979 (Gleason et al, 1993).…”