Climate characteristics of ozone over Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

By objectively analyzing the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer data during the period from November 1978 to March 2000 a persistent low of total column ozone (TCO) over the Tibetan Plateau (TOL) is confirmed, with the maximum intensity occurring in May and the minimum intensity occurring in January. Among others, two main reasons for the generation of the TOL are that the plateau is a high geographic surface and it is an elevated heat source associated with thermally forced circulations. The latter seems to play a more important role than the former. The annual oscillations of the TCO over the plateau are closely in phase with but considerably weaker than the plateau's corresponding zonal mean. The interannual trend of the TCO over the plateau is similar to the global mean and very similar to its corresponding zonal mean. These analyses suggest that although a significant and permanent TOL exists, the TCO over the plateau does not show an anomalous behavior with respect to annual and interannual trends.