Evaluation of Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) ozone profiles from nine different algorithms

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research
• Main Authors: Meijer, Y. J., Swart, D.-P.-J., Baier, F., Bhartia, P.-K., E. Bodeker, G., Casadio, S., Chance, K., Del Frate, F., Erbertseder, T., Felder, M.-D., Flynn, L.-E., Godin-Beekmann, Sophie, Hansen, G., Hasekamp, O.-P., Kaifel, A., Kelder, H.-M., Kerridge, B.-J., Lambert, J.-C., Landgraf, J., Latter, B., Liu, X., Mcdermid, I. Stuart, Pachepsky, Y., Rozanov, V., Siddans, R., Tellmann, S., Van Der A, R.-J., Van Oss, R.-F., Weber, M., Zehner, C.
• Other Authors: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven (RIVM), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt Oberpfaffenhofen-Wessling (DLR), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Lauder (NIWA), Serco S.p.A. Frascati, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Smithsonian Institution-Harvard University Cambridge, Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemi e Produzione Roma (DISP), Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata Roma, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ), NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Service d'aéronomie (SA), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Polar Environmental Centre, Norwegian Polar Institute, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven (TU/e), STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique (BIRA-IASB), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), Institute of Environmental Physics Bremen (IUP), University of Bremen, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), European Space Agency (ESA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2006
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Antarctic; Norway; New Zealand; Dumont d'Urville; Dumont-d'Urville; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00133423; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00133423/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00133423/file/2005JD006778.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006778

An evaluation is made of ozone profiles retrieved from measurements of the nadir-viewing Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) instrument. Currently, four different approaches are used to retrieve ozone profile information from GOME measurements, which differ in the use of external information and a priori constraints. In total nine different algorithms will be evaluated exploiting the optimal estimation (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, University of Bremen, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), Phillips-Tikhonov regularization (Space Research Organization Netherlands), neural network (Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, Tor Vergata University), and data assimilation (German Aerospace Center) approaches. Analysis tools are used to interpret data sets that provide averaging kernels. In the interpretation of these data, the focus is on the vertical resolution, the indicative altitude of the retrieved value, and the fraction of a priori information. The evaluation is completed with a comparison of the results to lidar data from the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change stations in Andoya (Norway), Observatoire Haute Provence (France), Mauna Loa (Hawaii), Lauder (New Zealand), and Dumont d'Urville (Antarctic) for the years 1997–1999. In total, the comparison involves nearly 1000 ozone profiles and allows the analysis of GOME data measured in different global regions and hence observational circumstances. The main conclusion of this paper is that unambiguous information on the ozone profile can at best be retrieved in the altitude range 15–48 km with a vertical resolution of 10 to 15 km, precision of 5–10%, and a bias up to 5% or 20% depending on the success of recalibration of the input spectra. The sensitivity of retrievals to ozone at lower altitudes varies from scheme to scheme and includes significant influence from a priori assumptions.