Power‐law correlations in column ozone over Antarctica

Abstract

Detrended fluctuation analysis is applied on springtime daily column ozone at the edge and into the Antarctic ozone hole, by using observations deduced from ground‐based (1972–2003) and satellite‐borne instrumentation (1979–2003). First, extreme column ozone fluctuations obey a power‐law with exponents, implying that large fluctuations are more likely to occur into the ozone hole than at its edge. Secondly, for time‐scales longer than one year, persistent long‐range power‐law correlations in the column ozone fluctuations were more pronounced during 1979–1992. However, by eliminating the long‐term trend, antipersistence (persistence) for time lags more (less) than ten days is detected for the entire data record. The latter crossover illustrates the role of planetary waves in the scaling characteristics of the spatio‐temporal variability of the Antarctic ozone hole. Finally, since 1996 the intrinsic dynamics in column ozone at the edge of Antarctica have differed; this does not hold for the Antarctic ozone hole.