Recent assessment of the performance and accuracy of a chemiluminescent rocket sonde for upper atmospheric ozone measurements

The chemiluminescent rocket ozonesonde utilizing rhodamine-B as a detector and self-pumping for air sampling has been improved. The instrument employs standard meteorological sounding systems and is the only technique available for routine nighttime ozone measurements above balloon altitudes. The chemiluminescent detector, when properly calibrated, is shown to be specific to ozone, stable, and of sufficient sensitivity for accurate measurements of ozone from about 65-20 km. An error analysis indicates that the measured ozone profiles have an absolute accuracy of about + or - 12% and a precision of about + or - 6%. Approximately 20 flights have been conducted for geophysical investigations, while additional flights were conducted with other rocket and satellite ozone soundings for comparisons. In general, these comparisons showed good agreement.