REEXAMINATION OF THE RELATION BETWEEN DEPTH OF THE ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE, AND EQUATORIAL QBO AND SST, 1962-1992

The relation between depth of the Antarctic ozone hole, and equatorial QBO and SST, is reexamined for the interval 1962-1992, using Dobson t otal-ozone data at the South Pole, Singapore 50 mb zonal wind, and ave rage SST in the El Nino region 12S-2N, 180-90W. During this interval t he correlation between October-November values of South Pole total ozo ne, and south polar 100 mb temperature from radiosondes, is 0.93. In 2 3 of 27 cases, South Pole springtime (October-November) total ozone de creased from one year to the next when the Singapore 50 mb zonal wind averaged from the east during the intervening 3 seasons and increased when this wind averaged from the west. Owing to the high serial correl ation of the wind and total-ozone data, this distribution is only sign ificant at the 5% level according to the Chi-square test, but basicall y supports the conclusions of Garcia and Solomon (1987) and Lait et al . (1989) regarding the relation between equatorial QBO and depth of th e ozone hole. The tendency for a deeper ozone hole when equatorial SST warms (El Nino) yields a relation between depth of the Antarctic ozon e hole, and equatorial QBO and SST, significant at the 1% level only b y the subjective drawing of a smooth line which separates springtime t otal-ozone increases and decreases from one year to the next in 24 of 25 cases with 2 cases on the line of separation. The Singapore 50 mb w ind has been from the west during the first half of 1993, suggesting a less deep ozone hole in 1993 than in 1992, especially if the current prolonged El Nino finally abates in mid 1993.