The rise in surface air temperatures in southern Africa over the past two decades may be due to the loss of upper atmospheric ozone over Antarctica, reports a paper published online this week in Nature Geoscience. The findings suggest that the closure of the Antarctic ozone hole could lead to a reduction in surface air temperatures in southern Africa.

Desmond Manatsa and colleagues used reanalysis data to compare the climate of southern Africa before and after the development of the Antarctic ozone hole. They find that a shift in Southern Hemisphere circulation resulting from the development of the ozone hole coincided with the intensification of a low pressure system over southern Africa - which was, in turn, was associated with the flux of warm air from the lower latitudes to southern Africa.