<title>Stratospheric aerosol and gas experiment III: aerosol and trace gas measurements for the Earth Observing System</title>

Abstract

The SAGE III experiment is the latest in a series of satellite-based instruments utilizing the self-calibrating solar occultation technique to monitor aerosols and trace gases in the atmosphere. SAGE III is being considered for flight on the Earth Observing System (EOS) NASA polar platform B and as a payload in non-sun-synchronous and lower inclination orbits. This paper will describe the SAGE III instrument and potential coniributions to monitoring global change and other EOS objectives. Uses of these data will be illustrated with SAGE I and II long-term ozone, aerosol, and water vapor data.The SAGE III instrument design is based on the previous SAGE-series instruments with the addition of a CCD linear array detector to provide sufficient spectral resolution for improving species identification, aerosol and cloud characterization, and wavelength calibration. This change and other design improvements allow nighttime measurements using lunar occultation geometry, atmospheric density measurements making the species retrieval independent of other data sources, and extension of the altitude range of the measurements into the lower atmosphere. Near global measurements will be made of aerosol and cloud characterisücs and high vertical resolution profiles of temperature and key chemical species such as ozone, water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen trioxide, and chlorine dioxide. Investigations of the spatial and temporal variability of these species will be conducted to understand their role in biogeochemical and hydrological processes and atmospheric chemistry. The self-calibrating characteristic of the occultation measurement technique will also allow the determination of long-term trends in water vapor, aerosols, ozone and other species of key importance in understanding climate change.

Evaluation of ozonesondes, HALOE, SAGE II and III, Odin- OSIRIS and -SMR, and ENVISAT-GOMOS, -SCIAMACHY and -MIPAS ozone profiles in the tropics from SAOZ long duration balloon measurements in 2003 and 2004

“…The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) was launched into a sun-synchronous orbit aboard the Russian Meteor 3M platform in December 2001 (McCormick et al, 1991). SAGE III adds solar and lunar occultation and limb modes.…”

“…Since 2001 a number of new ozone measuring space instruments have been put into orbit: the Limb viewing visible OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph and Infrared Imager System) (Warshaw et al, 1996;Llewellyn et al, 1997) and the Limb observing SMR (Sub-Millimetre Radiometer) (Murtagh et al, 2002) both aboard the Swedish-Finish-Canadian-French ODIN satellite launched in February 2001; the NASA SAGE III UV-Vis-near IR spectrometer aboard METEOR III in December 2001 operating by moon occultation in the tropics (McCormick et al, 1991); and finally the ESA EN-VISAT satellite in March 2002 carrying the GOMOS (Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars) stellar occultation (Bertaux et al, 1991;Bertaux et al, 2001), the limb viewing SCIAMACHY (SCanning Imaging Absorption spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY) UV-Vis spectrometers (Burrows and Chance, 1991;Bovensmann et al, 1999) and the Infra-red Limb viewing MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) (Fischer and Oelhaf, 1996;Harris, 2000).…”

Rule-Based System Architecting of Earth Observing Systems: Earth Science Decadal Survey

“…For instance, it was assumed that the TES instrument it is capableby itself -of providing measurements of atmospheric ozone, water vapor, methane, carbon monoxide, land surface and atmospheric temperature, and mononitrogen oxides. References [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62], [63], [64], [65], [66], [67], [68] describe the characteristics of these instruments that are relevant for the calculation of their capabilities, including mass, power, data rate, dimensions, spectral region, angular resolution, and so forth. More on information on the capability rules for the NASA EOS case study is provided in [36] (pages 201-202, 392).…”

Retrieving the vertical distribution of stratospheric OClO from Odin/OSIRIS limb-scattered sunlight measurements

“…The Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) onboard the Odin satellite and the Scanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) on the ENVISAT spacecraft (Bovensmann et al, 1999) were specially designed to measure limb-scattered sunlight radiances with a near-global coverage and high vertical resolution (1-3 km). Two other instruments, the Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) also onboard ENVISAT (Bertaux et al, 1991) and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) on the Meteor-3M platform (McCormick et al, 1991), are primarily occultation instruments, but also have a limb-scatter measurement capability. This paper reports the first OClO number density profiles retrieved from OSIRIS limb-scattered radiances using differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) (Platt, 1994) combined with an optimal estimation (OE) method, more specifically the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator (Rodgers, 2000).…”