Summary
It is known that planetary waves play important role in the polar stratospheric vortex breakdown and ozone value increasing in late Antarctic spring. In this work, a possible dependency of the interannual variability of the ozone hole characteristics on preconditioning planetary wave activity in August is considered. As the quasi-stationary waves (QSW) dominate in Antarctic stratosphere, the QSW amplitude in stratospheric temperature distribution was examined using NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data. The monthly means for the ozone hole area (Southern Hemisphere Winter Bulletin data), zonal mean total ozone (TOMS/OMI satellite data) and South Pole total ozone (Amundsen-Scott observations) are considered for characterization of the Antarctic ozone in spring (September-November). Preconditions were quantified by the correlation coefficient between the QSW amplitude and spring ozone characteristics over the 1985-2008 period. Correlation of 0.6-0.8 is evidence of the 3-month duration of the late winter QSW influence on the ozone hole. The correlation distribution exhibits two maxima depending on the QSW latitude and altitude. Lower stratosphere maximum at latitudes of ozone hole edge is preliminary attributed to the polar vortex asymmetry caused by QSW1 and related to polar stratospheric area. Mid-stratosphere maximum can originate from large-scale ozone transport and descent. Both mechanisms can contribute to column ozone variability from year to year and predetermine to some extent the ozone hole size and depth.