Stratospheric ozone variations over Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E) during January-February 2012 and their relationship with meridional transport near Indian sector

Abstract

Ozone mixing ratio (OMR) obtained from ozonesondes launched once in a week at Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E) during January-February 2012 showed large variabilities in the stratosphere. On 3 and 10 February 2012, there were large negative and positive percentage changes of ozone with respect to mean OMR within a short period of about a week. It is explained based on potential vorticity (PV) intrusions, which have been considered as dynamic tracer for ozone. The PV map indicated that there was an intrusion of high PV on 3 February 2012 near Indian sector. However, no noticeable intrusion of high PV occurred on 10 February 2012 and the OMR remained almost uniform around 15 ppmv in the tropics in the longitude band of 0<span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-ascii-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-hansi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:="" symbol"="" lang="EN-GB">°-180°E. The high PV regions correspond to low ozone in the upper stratosphere due to negative latitudinal gradient of ozone. Besides, the height variation of OMR on 13 January 2012 is also explained based on PV intrusions at different pressure levels.

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