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The Tibetan ozone low and its long-term variation during 1979–2010

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Abstract

A Tibetan ozone low was found in the 1990s after the Antarctic ozone hole. Whether this ozone low has been recovering from the beginning of the 2000s following the global ozone recovery is an intriguing topic. With the most recent merged TOMS/SBUV (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer/Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet) ozone data, the Tibetan ozone low and its long-term variation during 1979–2010 are analyzed using a statistical regression model that includes the seasonal cycle, solar cycle, quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), ENSO signal, and trends. The results show that the Tibetan ozone low maintains and may become more severe on average during 1979–2010, compared with its mean state in the periods before 2000, possibly caused by the stronger downward trend of total ozone concentration over the Tibet. Compared with the ozone variation over the non-Tibetan region along the same latitudes, the Tibetan ozone has a larger downward trend during 1979–2010, with a maximum value of −0.40±0.10 DU yr−1 in January, which suggests the strengthening of the Tibetan ozone low in contrast to the recovery of global ozone. Regression analyses show that the QBO signal plays an important role in determining the total ozone variation over the Tibet. In addition, the long-term ozone variation over the Tibetan region is largely affected by the thermal-dynamical proxies such as the lower stratospheric temperature, with its contribution reaching around 10% of the total ozone change, which is greatly different from that over the non-Tibetan region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LAPC & LAOR, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Libo Zhou  (周立波), Han Zou  (邹 捍), Shupo Ma  (马舒坡) & Peng Li  (李 鹏)

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  1. Libo Zhou  (周立波)
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  2. Han Zou  (邹 捍)
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  3. Shupo Ma  (马舒坡)
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  4. Peng Li  (李 鹏)
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Correspondence to Libo Zhou  (周立波).

Additional information

Supported by the National Basic Research and Development (973) Program of China (2009CB421403), State Oceanic Administration Public Science and Technology Research Fund (201005017-5), China Meteorological Administration Special Public Welfare Research Fund (GYHY201106018), and State Oceanic Administration Polar Environment Investigation and Assessment Project (CHINARE2012-04-04 and CHINARE2012-02-03).

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Zhou, L., Zou, H., Ma, S. et al. The Tibetan ozone low and its long-term variation during 1979–2010. Acta Meteorol Sin 27, 75–86 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0108-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0108-9

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