LONG-TERM OZONE TRENDS DERIVED FROM THE 16-YEAR COMBINED NIMBUS-7 METEOR-3 TOMS VERSION-7 RECORD

Ozone measurements from the Nimbus 7 TOMS instrument, which operated f rom November 1978 through early May 1993, have been extended through D ecember 1994 using data from the TOMS instrument on-board the Russian Meteor 3 satellite. Both TOMS data records have recently been recalibr ated, and then reprocessed using the Version 7 retrieval algorithm. Lo ng-term trend estimates obtained from a multiple regression analysis s how ozone losses in the extended data record similar to those reported in previous studies using Version 6 TOMS and SBUV data, and ground-ba sed Dobson data. Ozone continues to decline through the end of 1994, w ith the most significant ozone losses occurring in the high southern l atitudes 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 t han those derived over the same time period using Version 6 data.