Satellite profile measurements of stratospheric ozone

A description is presented of preliminary results obtained in connection with the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE). SAGE, which uses a limb scanning solar radiometer, is an experiment aboard the Applications Explorer Mission 2 spacecraft which was launched on February 18, 1979. The instrument utilizes the technique of solar occultation to measure limb-path atmospheric extinction profiles which are inverted to yield vertical profiles of various atmospheric constituents in the latitude range from 79 deg South to 79 deg North. The ozone spectral channel is centered at 0.60 micrometers in the middle of the Chappuis absorption band. The general characteristics of the ozone profile measurements are shown in a graph. Each profile represents a day's average of approximately 15 measurements at the latitude band indicated. The SAGE ozone measurements are generating a highly detailed picture of the stratospheric ozone distribution.