Total ozone, ozone vertical distributions, and stratospheric temperatures at South Pole, Antarctica, in 1986 and 1987

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Abstract
Ozone and temperatures measured in 1986 and 1987 at South Pole, Antarctica, are compared, with emphasis on observations made at the time of formation of the Antarctica ozone hole. In early October 1987, total ozone decreased at South Pole to a record low of 127 Dobson units (DU), compared with the early October 1986 value of 158 DU. Electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesonde soundings made during both years showed the ozone depletion at 11–23 km in 1987 to be greater in vertical extent and magnitude and to proceed more rapidly. As in 1986, two exponential ozone decrease rates occurred in 1987 at 17±1 km, with half‐lives of 19.5 and 4.5 days (compared with half‐lives of 35 and 12 days observed in 1986). By early October 1987, nearly all ozone was depleted from a 4‐km‐thick atmospheric layer centered at 17 km. At the time of ozone hole formation, stratospheric temperatures were colder, but tropospheric temperatures were warmer, in 1987 compared to 1986. Because polar vortex breakdown occurred 3 weeks later in 1987 than it did in 1986, stratospheric temperatures in the heart of the ozone depletion region were 10°–40°C colder in mid‐ to late November 1987.