An analysis of tropopause pressure and total ozone correlations

• Published in: Monthly weather review 1988-03, Vol.116 (3), p.569-582
• Main Authors: SCHUBERT, S. D, MUNTEANU, M.-J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Meteorology
• ISSN: 0027-0644; 1520-0493
• DOI: 10.1175/1520-0493(1988)116<0569:aaotpa>2.0.co;2

The relationship between total ozone and tropopause pressure is analyzed by using 4 yr (1979-1982) of Nimbus-7 total ozone data and NMC global analyses of tropopause on a 5 degrees by 5 degrees grid. The fields are separated into medium (synoptic) and large spatial scales by spherical harmonic expansion. The global distribution of variability and correlation are presented for each season. The large-scale analysis is based primarily upon data from 1979 because of pronounced temporal inhomogeneities in the tropical tropopause data. The synoptic scales show strong correlations (>0.6) in the middle latitudes of both hemispheres, with a rapid equatorward drop and a more gradual poleward decline: a similar dependence upon latitude is found by using tropopause values derived directly from station data. Within a season, the areas of highest correlation tend to be associated with the regions of maximum variance of the storm track regions. In contrast, the seasonal dependence is such that the summer hemispheres tend to have the most extensive regions of high correlation, while the more energetic winter seasons have the smallest. A frequency analysis (limited to time scales longer than 3 days) of selected regions indicates that, in middle latitudes, synoptic-scale fluctuations of total ozone and tropopause pressure exhibit generally similar distributions in power and no significant phase differences: equatorward, the coherence drops rapidly at all frequencies. Nonseasonal fluctuations of the large-scale fields generally show weak correlations (