Abstract. The paper is focusing on the representativeness of single lidar stations for zonally averaged ozone profile variations over the middle and upper stratosphere. From the lower to the upper stratosphere, ozone profiles from single or grouped lidar stations correlate well with zonal means calculated from (Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV) overpasses. The best representativeness is found within a few degrees of latitude north or south of any lidar station. The latitude range with significant correlation coefficients (> 0.4) spans about ±10° in the mid-stratosphere (around 30 hPa) and becomes much larger in the upper stratosphere (around 2 hPa), where it spans a large part of the entire globe. The paper includes also a multiple linear regression analysis on the relative importance of proxy time series for explaining variations in the vertical ozone profiles. Studied proxies represent variability due to influences outside of the earth system (solar cycle), variability due to dynamic processes (the Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)), due to volcanic aerosol (Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD)), due to tropopause height changes (including global warming) and due to manmade contributions to chemistry (Equivalent Effective Stratospheric Chlorine (EESC)). Ozone trends are estimated, with and without removal of proxies, from the total available 1980 to 2015 SBUV record. Except for the chemistry related proxy (EESC), the use of the other proxies does not alter the significance of the estimated long-term trends. At heights above 10 hPa an “inflection point” between 1997 and 1999 marks the end of significant negative ozone trends, followed by a recent period of positive ozone change over the period 1998-2015. At heights below 15 hPa the pre-1998 negative ozone trends tend to become insignificant as we move towards 2015.;
