Long-term relationship of stratospheric ozone and tropospheric temperatures

While the understanding of stratospheric ozone variability has advanced sufficiently to allow atmospheric dynamics to be identified as a contributor to that variability, it has been difficult to determine how the dynamical contribution varies with latitude or with lower atmosphere. We have examined the anomalies in zonal averages of total ozone and of temperatures at the Earth's surface during 32 years of observations using their visibility networks and find that the latitude dependence of both measurements are similar enough to suggest that they are related. While the similarities seen are not sufficient to establish a direct link between total ozone and temperature, they are consistent with influences originating in the troposphere affecting stratospheric ozone densities.