Solar activity–ozone relationships in the vertical distribution of ozone

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of long‐term solar variability in the vertical ozone distribution using reanalysed observational data from three sources: ozonesondes, Umtehr and satellite. The analysis provides an extension of earlier work, which showed the amplitude of the solar activity effect in total column ozone to be more pronounced over the tropics, amounting to about 1–2% of the mean and confirmed by model calculations. The amplitude of the solar activity signal in the ozone profiles, as evidenced from satellite data analysis, amounts to about 2% of the mean ozone values in the middle and upper stratosphere over most latitudes. Exceptions are seen over the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and over the tropics, were there appears to be a solar activity signal also in the lower stratosphere. These results were obtained after removing the natural variability and monthly trends from all datasets.