THE STRATOSPHERIC WINTER OF 1991/92 AT SODANKYLA IN THE EUROPEAN ARCTIC AS COMPARED WITH 1965-92 METEOROLOGICAL AND 1988-91 OZONE SOUNDING STATISTICS

The meteorological sounding record of 1965-92 and the ozone sounding record of 1988-92 at Sodankyla have been studied. In early 1992 the stratospheric temperatures and geopotential heights were lower than the 1965-92 mean, especially in January. The occurrence of 50 hPa level temperatures below 195 K in January has in considerably starting from the early 1980's up to a maximum in 1992. The partial pressures of stratospheric ozone in January-March 1992 were 17 % lower than the 1988-91 averages with the largest relative monthly mean deviations up to -33 % between the 13-17 km levels.