BAS Ozone Bulletin 08/99 issued 1999 December 17


The 1999 ozone hole is filling rapidly, though a weak polar vortex is still present. The remains of the hole are centred over Enderby Land and here there is a small area with ozone values below 225 DU. There are high ozone values off the Pacific coast of Antarctica. The edge of the ozone hole crossed the southernmost tip of South America and the Falkland Islands over November 21 to 22. Total ozone values at Halley have risen rapidly in the past few days to 300 DU, though this is still 15% below the normal for mid December. Stratospheric temperatures at Halley are around -45 deg C, a few degrees below the normal for mid December.


1. Data from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Halley station (76-deg south, 27-deg west, on the Brunt ice shelf).

 

  1. Ozone. Mean total ozone values at Halley fell from around 220 DU in late August to around 150 DU in mid September. Daily values rose briefly to reach 200 DU on September 23rd when planetary wave activity brought the edge of the ozone hole close to the station. This is the highest ozone amount at the station in the last 10 days of September since 1990. The fall continued at around 2.6 DU per day, and daily values had dropped below 120 DU by October 1st. Values then rose slowly to around 180 DU in early December, with a brief rise above 200 DU around November 19. Values rose rapidly to reach 300 DU in mid December, still 15% below the normal for the time of year .


Halley preliminary mean daily total ozone, (DU)
Dobson No 103: Instrument constants revised 1999 October 8.
(0 indicates no data)


1999 August 21 - 1999 December 16
0 0 0 0 0 175 180 254 220 181 220

231 211 206 192 205 206 218 201 209 196

185 178 173 169 167 145 140 150 175 177

151 151 199 159 136 121 125 129 125 117

114 116 139 170 162 132 130 137 140 159

142 141 140 139 150 155 132 144 150 155

151 149 153 134 126 129 137 150 147 155 145

153 160 152 158 167 167 160 162 151 152

155 159 166 166 157 166 185 206 217 216

198 181 183 187 176 174 168 165 167 174

183 167 178 195 185 192 207 219 253 261

285 284 289 296 302 313


Halley provisional monthly mean total ozone (DU)


Period Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Year
1999/00 205 172 143 172
1998/99 221 162 140 183 255 272 259 254 267 224
1997/98 218 171 141 210 286 267 262 264 261 231
1996/97 173 155 148 181 260 278 265 247 243 217
1995/96 218 160 130 164 252 261 249 246 226 212
1957-72 295 285 300 355 350 320 300 295 285 310

Note that August and April do not have observations on every day, and that the routine measurement season is now longer than it was in 1957 - 72. Measurements made at the start of the season are of lower accuracy than in mid summer due to the low solar elevation or use of moonlight. Gif images showing the data are available on the BAS ozone web-page.

  1. Radiosonde data. The mean 100 hPa temperature rose slowly from the normal winter values of around -81 deg C in August and September to reach -70 deg C in late November (25 deg C below the normal for the time of year). Historically the spring warming took place before the end of November and the delayed break-down of the present day vortex gives rise to a large anomaly. The temperature has risen rapidly in the past few days to around -45 deg C and is now only a few degrees below the normal for the time of year.


Stratospheric clouds, which are instrumental in the mechanism of ozone depletion, were observed from the station on July 19, August 13, 14, 15, 18 and September 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 13, 15, 27, 28, 30.



2. Data from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Rothera station (68-deg south, 68-deg west on Adelaide Island).

 

  1. Ozone. Ozone measurements from Rothera are made using a SAOZ (Systeme d'Automatique Observations Zenithales) spectrometer. This research instrument has a preliminary calibration such that it reads about 15% low compared to Dobson measurements at 100 DU, and is in agreement at 300 DU. The mean daily total ozone values generally show a similar pattern of variation to that seen at Vernadsky, though day to day variation does not show such pronounced wave activity and minimum values are a little lower. Mean total ozone values dropped from 290 DU at the beginning of August to 115 DU in late September, a rate of decline of 2.9 DU per day. A brief rise took values up to 290 DU on October 7, but they had dropped back to minimum levels by October 16. A second rise began on November 2, peaking at 320 DU on November 5. Values oscillated around 230 DU, with an amplitude of 60 DU, in response to short period planetary wave activity until early December when a rapid rise to above 300 DU occurred.

  2. Rothera preliminary mean daily total ozone, (DU)
    (0 indicates no data or data not available)


    1999 July 1 - 1999 December 15


    270 277 293 278 293 324 304 294 301 311

    298 294 294 293 298 273 247 219 0 211

    231 276 279 277 243 224 238 244 265 273 283

    299 313 281 270 267 290 0 258 260 260

    210 228 239 256 249 243 200 232 262 239

    225 222 219 224 241 214 210 210 225 219 223

    186 175 0 165 164 194 183 162 158 164

    154 143 162 160 184 149 148 163 162 162

    159 173 161 166 130 129 119 116 114 0

    150 175 192 207 157 274 292 280 279 239

    155 151 145 136 126 110 124 124 145 155

    151 148 138 0 166 178 172 156 154 164 207

    227 204 254 313 320 276 259 236 165 0

    188 187 172 193 217 242 282 288 231 191

    190 250 289 282 217 162 164 173 220 262

    257 198 168 178 240 302 319 322 326 329

    327 324 315 313 302


    Rothera provisional monthly mean total ozone (DU)


    Period Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
    1999/00 274 243 157 175 229
    1998/99 288 239 159 166 252 264 270 279 267 277 300 287
    1997/98 270 280 267 263

  3. Stratospheric clouds. Nacreous or mother-of-pearl clouds are regularly seen from stations along the Antarctic Peninsula between early May and October, with a peak in July. There is some evidence that their frequency of occurrence has increased since the mid 1950s. This year they were observed from Rothera on June 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 29, July 12, 13, August 22 and 31.

 

3. Data from the Ukrainian Antarctic Research Centre Vernadsky station (65-deg south, 64-deg west on the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, formerly the BAS Faraday station).

 

  1. Ozone. Running mean total ozone values fell from around 290 DU in late July (10% depletion) to 160 DU in late September (55% depletion), giving a rate of decline of around 2.2 DU per day. The September mean of 189 DU is the lowest recorded September mean for the station. Daily values rose from the beginning of October to reach over 300 DU on the 7th, but then fell back to 140 DU by mid month (60% depletion). A second major rise began in late October and values were oscillating around 290 DU, with an amplitude of 50 DU, in response to short period planetary wave activity until early December. Mean daily values remained 25% below the normal.

  2. Vernadsky preliminary mean daily total ozone (DU).
    Dobson No 31: Instrument constants revised 1999 October 25


    1999 August 1 - 1999 December 8


    296 319 275 275 282 288 262 253 254 265

    229 215 230 268 258 264 219 234 232 226

    226 244 226 236 240 206 215 231 261 235 252

    219 191 177 186 174 237 224 194 170 182

    201 196 174 183 233 199 171 222 208 181

    199 215 181 242 161 173 159 142 146 138

    145 183 208 250 164 249 309 301 269 280

    196 195 187 177 163 145 145 152 182 204

    181 180 187 165 178 194 219 206 197 232 229

    281 259 261 334 347 308 323 334 252 259

    224 275 281 259 328 329 343 347 274 229

    206 273 334 343 309 189 213 206 252 307

    335 252 209 172 195 289 321 332


    Vernadsky provisional monthly mean total ozone (DU)


    Period Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Year
    1999/00 249 189 202 283
    1998/99 241 200 218 305 278 288 289 273 279 263
    1997/98 261 251 235 240 297 281 266 280 281 266
    1996/97 208 203 265 225 272 307 281 277 283 258
    1995/96 240 199 252 230 296 284 285 276 264 258
    1957-72 310 330 345 370 345 320 300 295 310 325

  3. Radiosonde data. Radiosonde flights at Marambio and Rothera showed that the 100 hPa temperature generally remained below -70 deg C until late October. Values from occasional flights at Marambio in November are generally within the range of historic variation.

    Stratospheric clouds were seen from Vernadsky on July 31.



4. Information from other sources.


TOVS satellite images from the US NCEP/NWS/NOAA Climate Prediction Center and EP/TOMS images from the US NASA/GSFC show the progressive filling of the ozone hole. The remains of the hole are centred on Enderby Land, with a small area having values below 225 DU. There are high ozone values off the Pacific coast of Antarctica. The margins of the hole briefly crossed the southernmost tip of South America and the Falkland Islands over November 21 to 22. UK Met Office charts show that the 100 hPa temperature remains below -60 deg C in the weakening polar vortex. NOAA analyses show that the 50 hPa temperature has remained below the normal since early June.

 

An interesting low ozone event in the Northern Hemisphere occurred around November 30th. Nacreous clouds were widely seen over Scotland and very low ozone values measured over the North Sea. These events were associated with unusually low stratospheric temperatures, with chemical depletion playing a minor part in the low ozone values.



Further information is available on the BAS ozone web page, which contains earlier bulletins, data, graphs and general ozone information. The url is: http://www.nbs.ac.uk/public/icd/jds/ozone


Note that all ozone values in this bulletin are preliminary and are subject to revision from time to time when the instrument constants are re-evaluated. Final data will be archived with WOUDC, Toronto in due course, but preliminary data back to 1973 are available from BAS on request. All Dobson ozone data are reduced to the Bass-Paur scale as recommended by the WMO. The reference period used for the normals is 1957 - 1972. If you use or pass on data in this bulletin please make acknowledgement to J D Shanklin, British Antarctic Survey.