Summary
Results of ongoing investigations into patterns of interannual variability in total column ozone as measured by the Bureau of Meteorology’s Dobson network over the Australian region are presented. At all latitudes, total column ozone increases during winter and spring, reaching an annual maximum in September-October, however, except in Darwin, there is significant interannual variation in the magnitude of the springtime maximum. Particularly in Melbourne, ozone anomalies during the months of winter and spring are well correlated with each other and persist to a considerable extent into the following summer and autumn, but not then into the next winter. Using multiple linear correlation analysis, it is found that much of the variation in springtime ozone can be accounted for in terms of hemisphere-wide processes, such as the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), variations in planetary wave forcing as represented by the Eliassen-Palm (EP) flux, the 11-year solar cycle and stratospheric chlorine loading.