Long-term ozone trends derived from the 16-year combined Nimbus 7/Meteor 3 TOMS Version 7 record

Abstract

Ozone measurements from the Nimbus 7 TOMS instrument, which operated from November 1978 through early May 1993, have been extended through December 1994 using data from the TOMS instrument on-board the Russian Meteor 3 satellite. Both TOMS data records have recently been recalibrated, and then reprocessed using the Version 7 retrieval algorithm. Long-term trend estimates obtained from a multiple regression analysis show ozone losses in the extended data record similar to those reported in previous studies using Version 6 TOMS and SBUV data, and ground-based Dobson data. Ozone continues to decline through the end of 1994, with the most significant ozone losses occurring in the high southern latitudes during October (−20% per decade) and in the northern mid- to high-latitudes during March/April (−6 to −8% per decade). There is no significant ozone trend in the tropics. Annual-average trends derived from the Nimbus 7 Version 7 data are 0–2.5% per decade less negative than those derived over the same time period using Version 6 data.