Abstract:

Total ozone observations from the Total Ozone Unit (TOU) on board the second generation polar orbiting meteorological satellite of China, Fengyun-3/A (FY-3/A) revealed that the total column ozone over the Arctic declined rapidly from the beginning of March 2011. An extensive region of low column amount of ozone formed around mid March, the monthly mean total column ozone of March 2011 was about 30% lower than the average value observed during 1979-2010. The daily total column density of ozone near the center of low ozone area in mid March was below 240 DU, about half of the total column ozone amount observed during the same period of last 10 years. The data of total column ozone during 1979-2011 observed by different satellites are analyzed, the results show that the Arctic depletion of ozone in the spring of 2011 was initiated by the cold polar vortex in the lower stratosphere, the March mean value of total ozone over the Arctic has a decreasing trend during the past 32 years and its variation is strongly correlated with the polar vortex.

Key words: FY-3 satellite, anomalously low ozone in arctic area, polar vortex, ozone hole