On the relationship between Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) ozone and hurricanes

The Earth Probe (EP)/Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) total ozone (O3) data are employed in an investigation of the relationship between total column ozone and hurricanes. It is shown that variations of total ozone amounts are closely related to the formation, intensification, and movement of a hurricane. A high correlation between TOMS O3 and upper level geopotential height is found within hurricanes. A regime‐dependent high correlation between TOMS O3 and vertically integrated potential vorticity fields is also found in a hurricane environment. Several regression models are developed for applying TOMS O3 to hurricane initialization and data assimilation.