G. E. Bodeker

Pole‐to‐pole validation of Envisat GOMOS ozone profiles using data from ground‐based and balloon sonde measurements

[1]xa0In March 2002 the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the polar-orbiting environmental satellite Envisat. One of its nine instruments is the Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) instrument, which is a medium-resolution stellar occultation spectrometer measuring vertical profiles of ozone. In the first year after launch a large group of scientists performed additional measurements and validation activities to assess the quality of Envisat observations. In this paper, we present validation results of GOMOS ozone profiles from comparisons to microwave radiometer, balloon ozonesonde, and lidar measurements worldwide. Thirty-one instruments/launch sites at twenty-five stations ranging from the Arctic to the Antarctic joined in this activity. We identified 6747 collocated observations that were performed within an 800-km radius and a maximum 20-hour time difference of a satellite observation, for the period between 1 July 2002 and 1 April 2003. The GOMOS data analyzed here have been generated with a prototype processor that corresponds to version 4.02 of the operational GOMOS processor. The GOMOS data initially contained many obviously unrealistic values, most of which were successfully removed by imposing data quality criteria. Analyzing the effect of these criteria indicated, among other things, that for some specific stars, only less than 10% of their occultations yield an acceptable profile. The total number of useful collocated observations was reduced to 2502 because of GOMOS data unavailability, the imposed data quality criteria, and lack of altitude overlap. These collocated profiles were compared, and the results were analyzed for possible dependencies on several geophysical (e.g., latitude) and GOMOS observational (e.g., star characteristics) parameters. We find that GOMOS data quality is strongly dependent on the illumination of the limb through which the star is observed. Data measured under bright limb conditions, and to a certain extent also in twilight limb, should be used with caution, as their usability is doubtful. In dark limb the GOMOS data agree very well with the correlative data, and between 14- and 64-km altitude their differences only show a small (2.5–7.5%) insignificant negative bias with a standard deviation of 11–16% (19–63 km). This conclusion was demonstrated to be independent of the star temperature and magnitude and the latitudinal region of the GOMOS observation, with the exception of a slightly larger bias in the polar regions at altitudes between 35 and 45 km.

A Kalman filter reconstruction of the vertical ozone distribution in an equivalent latitude–potential temperature framework from TOMS/GOME/SBUV total ozone observations

[1] We present a quasi three-dimensional ozone data set (Candidoz Assimilated Three-dimensional Ozone, CATO) with daily resolution and covering the period 1979-2004. It was reconstructed from two-dimensional total ozone observations of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), and Solar Backscatter UV (SBUV) satellite instruments by assimilating the measurements into an equivalent latitude (Φ E )-potential temperature (θ) framework. The statistical reconstruction method uses the fact that total ozone columns are influenced by transient north-south excursions of air parcels associated, for instance, with Rossby waves. These adiabatic motions change the thickness of individual isentropic layers and transport high or low ozone into the column depending on meridional concentration gradients. A Kalman filter was employed to calculate sequentially the ozone distributions on a (Φ E , θ) grid that best match the total ozone observations given the errors in both the measurements and the ozone field predicted by the filter. CATO is shown to agree in midlatitudes within 20% with ozonesondes and the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) capturing both seasonal and interannual variations. Significantly larger differences of about 30% are found at the high-latitude sonde station Sodankyla (67°N), while differences from HALOE are mostly within 20% at these latitudes. Differences of about 30% from both the sondes and HALOE are found in the tropical lower stratosphere. This new data set is unique in its temporal and spatial coverage and will be particularly useful for studies of the factors influencing the long-term evolution of ozone in the lower stratosphere.

Long-term variations in total ozone derived from Dobson and satellite data

Abstract Total ozone growth rates are calculated using flexible ‘tendency curves’ that can follow ozone variations on all timescales greater than that of the quasi-biennial oscillation. This method improves on traditional trend analysis using straight line fits because it follows ozone variations more closely, providing visual information about the timing and global distribution of ozone variations. Results are compared from long-running Dobson sites and from two homogenized satellite data sets, one constructed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the other developed at New Zealands National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. Although the most negative ozone trends in the Southern Hemisphere appear to be linked to polar vortex chemistry, those in the Northern Hemisphere have occurred between 35°N and 40°N and may be related to dynamical trends and/or chemistry on episodically occurring volcanic aerosols. A quasi-decadal cycle in total ozone was present since the mid-1920s and hence is independent of halogen chemistry. Its cause remains unknown. Including the deseasonalized and detrended local temperature in the ozone trend model decreases the standard error of the ozone trend over most of the globe.

Relative performance of three SAGE‐II data versions under high aerosol conditions based on comparisons with microwave and ozonesonde profiles measured at two NDSC sites

[1]xa0Intercomparisons between SAGE-II data versions 5.93, 5.96, and 6.1 with microwave ozone and ozonesonde measurements made at the NDSC primary station at Lauder, New Zealand, and with microwave measurements made at the NDSC complementary station at Table Mountain, California, are reported on here. The focus is on SAGE-II measurement performance during the period when stratospheric aerosol levels were substantially elevated following the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption. SAGE-II ozone retrievals are potentially affected by aerosol levels and size distributions because extinction due to aerosol must be estimated and subtracted from the measured total extinction in the 600 nm ozone channel to determine the ozone amount; the microwave and ozonesonde comparison measurements are aerosol insensitive. Around 10–25 hPa, the newer algorithm versions retain a tendency toward extinction-dependent bias previously reported for version 5.9; this dependence may be larger than previously indicated at moderately high aerosol levels. In the 30–40 hPa range, the extinction dependence of version 6.1 (and, usually, version 5.96) data is a few times less than that of version 5.93. Between about 30 and 80 hPa most points at moderately elevated aerosol extinctions are less affected than in version 5.93, and these are fewer and/or less affected in version 6.1 than in version 5.96. When aerosols are at background levels, the precisions of version 5.93 and 5.96 measurements are at least somewhat better, around 30 hPa, than the errors provided with the data. The errors provided with version 6.1 data are substantially smaller than in previous versions, and small enough that the experimental sensitivity was insufficient to draw conclusions regarding the actual precision in comparison to the error values.