The global distribution of total ozone: TOMS satellite measurements

The general behavior of total ozone by season and latitude was known before 1930 through the pioneering observations by G. M. B. Dobson. The ozone record at Oxford and other European stations was dominated by an annual cycle and by irregular short term fluctuations. The amplitude and phase of the annual cycle were determined at representative latitudes in both hemispheres. However, the short term variations appeared to be of meteorological origin, although the specific cause could not be identified. Data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on the Nimbus 7 spacecraft, with global coverage at an average spatial resolution of 66 km, can now be used to completely map the total ozone field. These maps demonstrate that troughs and ridges in the upper troposphere are responsible for the large, short term ozone variations found at middle latitudes, while in the troplcs, the steady, low ozone levels show broad scale structure associated with the Hadley circulation.