Analysis of temporal and spatial variability of total column ozone over West Africa using daily TOMS measurements

The aim of this study was to examine the temporal and spatial total column ozone distribution in West Africa using Total Ozone Mapping spectrometer (TOMS) daily data for five years between 2001 and 2005 in fifteen locations. In this study, certain significant observations emerged: weather activity particularly the rainfall producing mechanism (dynamic of the wind systems) was responsible for about 62% ozone distribution in the region. Ozone maximum and minimum concentrations over all the stations were 305 DU and 232 DU respectively producing an average range of 73 DU (only about 27.03% of the mean value). Ozone has a seasonal distribution with minimum occurring during the dry season and maximum occurring during the wet season. A decreasing rate of about –0.6 DU/year was found for the region. Interannual ozone characteristics revealed an oscillating feature similar to Quasi – biennial Oscillation (QBO) footprints which indicated the importance of stratosphere – troposphere exchange to ozone distribution in the region. Furthermore, lag of about one or two months occurs between south (lower latitude) and north (higher latitude) monthly ozone maximums.