We study the relationship between ozone and potential vorticity in the region around the tropopause using a linear, quasi-geostrophic model for large-scale Rossby waves. The ozone field at the start of the simulations is assumed to be horizontally uniform and to have zones of constant mixing ratios in the troposphere and middle stratosphere separated by a zone with a sharp vertical ozone gradient above the tropopause. We find that the observed correlations between potential vorticity and ozone column values agree well with the characteristics of vertically propagating Rossby waves. We also show that realistic potential vorticity anomalies lead to disturbances of the total ozone field in the model that are equal in magnitude to what is observed during the winter in midlatitudes. For trapped waves there is little correlation between total ozone and potential vorticity. Furthermore, we discuss some implications for the assimilation of total ozone data from satellites in general circulation models.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union