Physical Sciences: Atmospheric Total Ozone Increase during the 1960s

Abstract

NAMIAS¹ has postulated that sea–air interactions on a regional basis, and not necessarily air pollution, volcanic activity, or solar intensity variations, may have caused the cooling trend that was observed in numerous areas of the world during the past decade^2,3. In particular, he attributed the United States temperature anomaly, that is, lower than normal winter temperatures in the eastern two-thirds of the county, and higher than normal winter temperatures in the west, to intensification of the Rossby wave at the 700 mbar level. This intensification strengthens the ridge over western North America and deepens the trough to the east, thus increasing the frequency of deployment of Arctic air masses into the eastern United States. Namias attributed the change in the character of the Rossby wave to abnormal cyclonic activity that occurred in the winter atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific, the surface waters of which were unusually warm during the 1960s.