OZONE-RELATED TRENDS IN SOLAR UV-B SERIES

It is now well established that stratospheric ozone has become deplete d on a global scale, with downward trends of several percent per decad e in populated mid-latitude regions, but evidence of the expected para llel increases in solar UV-B radiation has remained elusive to date; i f anything, past studies have actually reported decreases. The broken, ten-year record of Robertson-Berger meter UV-B measurements for a cle an-atmosphere, mid-latitude site in the Southern Hemisphere that we an alyse here is incapable of independently confirming a long-term upward trend, but it does provide specific evidence in support of the trend hypothesis. In particular, there is a very strong relationship between daily clear-sky UV-B and parallel ozone measurements, with correlatio n coefficients in the range of 0.84 to 0.95, and the trends and variat ions in ozone are very well matched by corresponding opposite trends a nd variations in UV-B.