NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
An Evaluation of the Quality of Halogen Occultation Experiment Ozone Profiles in the Lower StratosphereThe archived ozone profiles from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) have already been corrected for the effects of the spectrally varying, interfering absorption due to aerosols composed of aqueous sulfuric acid, and agreement with correlative measurements in the stratosphere is generally excellent. However, comparisons of sets of coincident HALOE and ozonesonde profiles indicate occasional large differences at the lowest levels of the stratosphere. Most of those instances occur at altitudes just below a well-defined minimum in the 5.26 microns channel aerosol extinction profile, whose wavelength dependence is not represented by a sulfuric acid aerosol model. Further, when the aerosol extinction exceeds about 10(exp 3)/ km, the aerosol correction to the ozone channel transmittances is both large and uncertain. After screening out the HALOE ozone profile segments whose corresponding aerosol/cirrus corrections are likely uncertain and after averaging lie ozonesonde profiles into 2.5 km thick layers, we find that the HALOE ozone areas, on average, to within 10% of their coincident ozonesonde measurements down to 100 hPa at tropical/subtropical latitudes and to 200 hPa at extratropical latitudes. A tightening of the coincidence criteria for the comparisons does not improve the mean differences for the sets nearly as much. Part of the variance of the paired differences was also accounted for when the ozonesonde profile values were integrated into those 2.5 km layers, prior to taking differences. This improvement is due mainly to the vertical averaging of the local, higher-resolution ozonesonde data, matching the lower resolution for HALOE ozone in the lower stratosphere. It is concluded that HALOE is providing accurate ozone profiles throughout the lower stratosphere, when its correction for interfering aerosols has been well characterized and when cirrus layers are not indicated.
Document ID
19990069951
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Bhatt, Praful P.
(Science Applications International Corp. Hampton, VA United States)
Remsberg, Ellis E.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Gordley, Larry L.
(G and A Technical Software, Inc. Newport News, VA United States)
McInerney, Joseph M.
(Science Applications International Corp. Hampton, VA United States)
Brackett, Vince G.
(Science Applications International Corp. Hampton, VA United States)
Russell, James M., III
(Hampton Univ. VA United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
April 27, 1999
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
Volume: 104
Issue: D8
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Report/Patent Number
Paper-1999JD900055
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available