Science Update: Improved seasonal forecasting using ozone hole variability?

S.-W. Son and co-authors show that the ozone hole has not only affected long-term climate change, but also interannual variability of the southern hemisphere (SH) surface climate. In their new GRL article, they show that a significant negative correlation is observed between September ozone concentration and the October Southern Annular Mode index, resulting in systematic variations in precipitation and surface air temperature throughout the SH. This time-lagged relationship is independent of those associated with ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole Mode, suggesting that SH seasonal forecasts could be improved through including Antarctic stratospheric variability. The full abstract can be found here.