[1] Several validation studies of surface UV irradiance based on the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite data have shown a high correlation with ground-based measurements but a positive bias in many locations. The main part of the bias can be attributed to the boundary layer aerosol absorption that is not accounted for in the current satellite UV algorithms. To correct for this shortfall, a postcorrection procedure was applied, based on global climatological fields of aerosol absorption optical depth. These fields were obtained by using global aerosol optical depth and aerosol single scattering albedo data assembled by combining global aerosol model data and ground-based aerosol measurements from AERONET. The resulting improvements in the satellite-based surface UV irradiance were evaluated by comparing satellite and ground-based spectral irradiances at various European UV monitoring sites. The results generally showed a significantly reduced bias by 5 -20%, a lower variability, and an unchanged, high correlation coefficient.

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Abstract. The three Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 instruments will provide unique and long data sets for atmospheric research and applications. The complete time period will be 2007-2022, including the period of ozone depletion as well as the beginning of ozone layer recovery. Besides ozone chemistry, the GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2) products are important e.g. for air quality studies, climate modelling, policy monitoring and hazard warnings. The heritage for GOME-2 is in the ERS/GOME and Envisat/SCIAMACHY instruments. The current Level 2 (L2) data cover a wide range of products such as ozone and minor trace gas columns (NO 2 , BrO, HCHO, H 2 O, SO 2 ), vertical ozone profiles in high and low spatial resolution, absorbing aerosol indices, surface Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity database, clear-sky and cloud-corrected UV indices and surface UV fields with different weightings and photolysis rates. The Satellite Application Facility on Ozone and Atmospheric Chemistry Monitoring (O3M SAF) processes and disseminates data 24/7. Data quality is guaranteed by the detailed review processes for the algorithms, validation of the products as well as by a continuous quality monitoring of the products and processing. This paper provides an overview of the O3M SAF project background, current status and future plans for the utilisation of the GOME-2 data. An important focus is the provision of summaries of the GOME-2 products including product principles and validation examples together with sample images. Furthermore, this paper collects references to the detailed product algorithm and validation papers.

Abstract. We use the technique of Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) to quantify the impact of spaceborne carbon monoxide (CO) total column observations from the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S-5P) platform on tropospheric analyses and forecasts. We focus on Europe for the period of northern summer 2003, when there was a severe heat wave episode associated with extremely hot and dry weather conditions. We describe different elements of the OSSE: (i) the nature run (NR), i.e., the "truth"; (ii) the CO synthetic observations; (iii) the assimilation run (AR), where we assimilate the observations of interest; (iv) the control run (CR), in this study a free model run without assimilation; and (v) efforts to establish the fidelity of the OSSE results. Comparison of the results from AR and the CR, against the NR, shows that CO total column observations from S-5P provide a significant benefit (at the 99 % confidence level) at the surface, with the largest benefit occurring over land in regions far away from emission sources. Furthermore, the S-5P CO total column observations are able to capture phenomena such as the forest fires that occurred in Portugal during northern summer 2003. These results provide evidence of the benefit of S-5P observations for monitoring processes contributing to atmospheric pollution.

Abstract. Spectral solar UV radiation measurements are performed in France using three spectroradiometers located at very different sites. One is installed in Villeneuve d'Ascq, in the north of France (VDA). It is an urban site in a topographically flat region. Another instrument is installed in Observatoire de Haute-Provence, located in the southern French Alps (OHP). It is a rural mountainous site. The third instrument is installed in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island (SDR). It is a coastal urban site on a small mountainous island in the southern tropics. The three instruments are affiliated with the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and carry out routine measurements to monitor the spectral solar UV radiation and enable derivation of UV index (UVI). The ground-based UVI values observed at solar noon are compared to similar quantities derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI, onboard the Aura satellite) and the second Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME-2, onboard the Metop-A satellite) measurements for validation of these satellite-based products. The present study concerns the period 2009-September 2012, date of the implementation of a new OMI processing tool. The new version (v1.3) introduces a correction for absorbing aerosols that were not considered in the old version (v1.2).Both versions of the OMI UVI products were available before September 2012 and are used to assess the improvement of the new processing tool. On average, estimates from satellite instruments always overestimate surface UVI at solar noon. Under cloudless conditions, the satellite-derived estimates of UVI compare satisfactorily with ground-based data: the median relative bias is less than 8 % at VDA and 4 % at SDR for both OMI v1.3 and GOME-2, and about 6 % for OMI v1.3 and 2 % for GOME-2 at OHP. The correlation between satellite-based and ground-based data is better at VDA and OHP (about 0.99) than at SDR (0.96) for both space-borne instruments. For all sky conditions, the median relative biases are much larger, with large dispersion for both instruments at all sites (VDA: about 12 %; OHP: 9 %; SDR: 11 %). Correlation between satellite-based and ground-based data is still better at VDA and OHP (about 0.95) than at SDR (about 0.73) for both satellite instruments. These results are explained considering the time of overpass of the two satellites, which is far from solar noon, preventing a good estimation of the cloud cover necessary for a good modelling of the UVI. Site topography and environment are shown to have a non-significant influence. At VDA and OHP, OMI Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.