Figure 1
Figure 092502_30mb.jpg

This is a false color contour map of the atmospheric ozone mass mixing ratio at 30 mbar for September 25, 2002 with a view of the Southern Hemisphere centered at the South Pole. This gives a horizontal slice of the atmosphere during the unusual splitting of the south polar vortex. It should be compared to Figure 092502_2mb.jpg. It shows a "clown face" composed of two low ozone "eyes" of low ozone, one south of Africa and the other in the southeastern Pacific, both with ozone mass mixing ratio values as low as 1.4 (ppmv), and a large "mouth" of high ozone south of Australia with values as high as 6.2 (ppmv). The ozone eyes are formed by the ozone values within the two lobes of the split ozone hole.