Tropopause and total ozone at mid‐latitudes

Abstract

Total ozone (TOZ) data and vertical temperature profiles, derived from 12 728 free‐balloon ascents and ground‐based or space‐borne instrumentation during 1984–2002 were analysed to investigate the association between TOZ and tropopause height variations above Athens, Greece. It was found that the synoptic pattern of TOZ is highly variable and the observed short‐term variability of TOZ partially reflects the fluctuations in tropopause height. In addition, the long‐term relation between tropopause height and TOZ variabilities shows that any decrease in TOZ is always accompanied by an increase in tropopause height, with a rate of – 8.5 Dobson unit (DU) km⁻¹ in summer and −11.2 DU km⁻¹ in winter. The linear regression analysis of the de‐seasonalized monthly mean TOZ and tropopause height, indicates a long‐term decrease in TOZ of −7.54±0.99 DU per decade, and an increase in tropopause height of approximately 167±30 m per decade.