The correlation between tropical total ozone and outgoing long-wave radiation

Interannual variations in tropical column ozone, as observed by the Total O zone Mapping Spectrometer? are analysed for the period 1979-94 using linear regression to extract signals related to the solar cycle, quasi-biennial o scillation, and El Ni (n) over tildeo Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Using ti me series of outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) as a proxy for ENSO variati ons, rather than the widely used Southern Oscillation index is found to imp rove the fit to observed ozone. The variability in the ozone and OLR datase ts is investigated using empirical orthogonal function analysis. The most s trongly correlated OLR and ozone modes exhibit ENSO-like variability.