Initial validation of ozone measurements from the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder

Abstract

[1] Comparisons of the latest High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) ozone retrievals (v2.04.09) are made with ozonesondes, ground-based lidars, airborne lidar measurements made during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-B, and satellite observations. A large visual obstruction blocking over 80% of the HIRDLS field of view presents significant challenges to the data analysis methods and implementation, to the extent that the radiative properties of the obstruction must be accurately characterized in order to adequately correct measured radiances. The radiance correction algorithms updated as of August 2007 are used in the HIRDLS v2.04.09 data presented here. Comparisons indicate that HIRDLS ozone is recoverable between 1 and 100 hPa at middle and high latitudes and between 1 and 50 hPa at low latitudes. Accuracy of better than 10% is indicated between 1 and 30 hPa (HIRDLS generally low) by the majority of the comparisons with coincident measurements, and 5% is indicated between 2 and 10 hPa when compared with some lidars. Between 50 and 100 hPa, at middle and high latitudes, accuracy is 10-20%. The ozone precision is estimated to be generally 5-10% between 1 and 50 hPa. Comparisons with ozonesondes and lidars give strong indication that HIRDLS is capable of resolving fine vertical ozone features (1-2 km) in the region between 1 and 50 hPa. Development is continuing on the radiance correction and the cloud detection and filtering algorithms, and it is hoped that it will be possible to achieve a further reduction in the systematic bias and an increase in the measurement range downward to lower heights (at pressures greater than 50-100 hPa).

Past changes in the vertical distribution of ozone – Part 1: Measurement techniques, uncertainties and availability

“…Geographically the data extend from 63 • S to 80 • N with 1 • spacing, and cover the period from 29 January 2005 to 17 March 2008, with very few gaps. The estimated total accuracy is 1-10 %, varying with altitude and latitude, and 10 to > 50 % in the tropical UTLS (Nardi et al, 2008).…”

Coherence of long-term stratospheric ozone vertical distribution time series used for the study of ozone recovery at a northern mid-latitude station

“…In this study, we use SBUV/NOAA-16 data from October 2000 to December 2002. The aforesaid deviations can be due to the comparatively larger ozone values of SBUV/NOAA-16 as discussed in Nazaryan et al (2005), who compared SBUV/2 with SAGE II, in Fioletov et al (2006), who analysed SBUV(/2) with Umkehr, SAGE II and ozonesondes, and in Nazaryan et al (2007), who compared SBUV/2 with HALOE. It should be noted, however, that the Dobson instrument at OHP was struck by lightning in 1999 and 2002, and these events have affected the quality of Umkehr data thereafter.…”

“…Additionally, a similar bias was noted when lidar ozone was compared to ECC sondes and SAGE II ozone at 16-19 km in 1985-2000 too (Godin-Beekmann et al, 2004). Further, Nardi et al (2008) show comparatively larger negative bias around 100 hPa, when OHP lidar ozone was compared to HIRDLS (High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder) ozone. is based on Umkehr pressure layers instead of geometric altitudes.…”

“…In this work, SBUV(/2)-lidar, Umkehr-lidar, sondes-lidar, SAGE II-lidar, HALOE-lidar, GOMOS-lidar and Aura MLS-lidar comparisons provide slopes generally less than ±0.5 % yr −1 in the 20-40 km range and are larger beyond this range. The study by Nazaryan et al (2005) mentions slopes of less than 0.5 and 3 % yr −1 for the time series of SAGE II with SBUV/2 data sets NOAA-11 and NOAA-16 ozone respectively, in the 20-50 km range. Similarly, the slopes of HALOE with NOAA-11 and NOAA-16 are less than 1 and 2 % yr −1 respectively (Nazaryan et al, 2007), consistent with our results.…”

Global distributions of overlapping gravity waves in HIRDLS data

“…Consequently, major corrective work has been required to produce useful atmospheric data. Measurements of temperature, cloud, and a wide range of chemical species have now been successfully retrieved and made available for scientific analysis (Massie et al, 2007;Nardi et al, 2008;Gille et al, 2008Gille et al, , 2013Khosravi et al, 2009).…”