Interannual variability and temporal variations of total column ozone in Visakhapatnam from ground based observations

Total column ozone (TCO) measured by the portable, handheld, multichannel Sun photometer (ozonometer-Microtops-II) at Visakhapatnam (17.43°N, 83.14°E; 51 m above mean sea level), India, which is a tropical urban station has been analysed in this study. The results showed the estimate of the annual and seasonal trends of TCO from the period February 2005 to December 2008. The linear regression technique was applied in Microtops II data to study the trend of TCO during 2005–2008. It also provides statistics of mean and variability on temporal scale. The results showed increasing trend at Visakhapatnam an average of 1.88 DU per year (or 0.61% per year). However the maximum deviation in diurnal variability of TCO were 28 DU (9.19%) while the minimum deviation were −36 DU (−11.8%) respectively, which is one of the unique result of this study. The range of the seasonal change represents 9.2% of the mean TCO value with maximum/minimum during March/December.