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Can interannual variations in stratospheric ozone be observed in the marine environment?
Author(s) -
Topliss B. J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370141004
Subject(s) - geopotential height , environmental science , ozone , climatology , atmospheric sciences , ozone layer , water column , tropopause , stratosphere , ozone depletion , meteorology , precipitation , oceanography , geology , geography
The possibility of interannual variations in water colour measurements, taken in UK waters, being influenced directly by ultraviolet (UV) light was investigated. Total column ozone was used as the indicator for UV light. A data base of 30–40 years of UK atmospheric and marine monthly data was assembled in order to investigate where in the environment the total column ozone signals may be observed. Principal component analyses were used first to remove regional and then to remove seasonal variations. Statistically significant correlations were obtained between a component of total column ozone, 300 hPa geopotential height, and water colour data. The relations between ozone, stratospheric temperature and wind speed and the 300 hPa geopotential height data were interpreted in terms of atmospheric disturbances modifying the position of the tropopause. No other atmospheric or climatic variable in the data base exhibited these ‘ozone‐weather’ signals, lending support to the hypothesis that this particular ozone signal could have found its way into the marine environment via direct exposure of marine life to UV in the surface layers of the ocean. After examining the data base for all support for and against this hypothesis, however, it was determined that the overall evidence was still ‘circumstantial’. Interannual variations in stratospheric ozone could be linked to variations in water colour data but no exclusive mechanism could be identified from statistical analyses alone.