SPARC Data Initiative: A comparison of ozone climatologies from international satellite limb sounders
Journal article, 2013
A comprehensive quality assessment of the ozone products from 18 limb-viewing satellite instruments is provided by means of a detailed intercomparison. The ozone climatologies in form of monthly zonal mean time series covering the upper troposphere to lower mesosphere are obtained from LIMS, SAGE I/II/III, UARS-MLS, HALOE, POAM II/III, SMR, OSIRIS, MIPAS, GOMOS, SCIAMACHY, ACE-FTS, ACE-MAESTRO, Aura-MLS, HIRDLS, and SMILES within 1978–2010. The intercomparisons focus on mean biases of annual zonal mean fields, interannual variability, and seasonal cycles. Additionally, the physical consistency of the data is tested through diagnostics of the quasi-biennial oscillation and Antarctic ozone hole. The comprehensive evaluations reveal that the uncertainty in our knowledge of the atmospheric ozone mean state is smallest in the tropical and midlatitude middle stratosphere with a 1σ multi-instrument spread of less than ±5%. While the overall agreement among the climatological data sets is very good for large parts of the stratosphere, individual discrepancies have been identified, including unrealistic month-to-month fluctuations, large biases in particular atmospheric regions, or inconsistencies in the seasonal cycle. Notable differences between the data sets exist in the tropical lower stratosphere (with a spread of ±30%) and at high latitudes (±15%). In particular, large relative differences are identified in the Antarctic during the time of the ozone hole, with a spread between the monthly zonal mean fields of ±50%. The evaluations provide guidance on what data sets are the most reliable for applications such as studies of ozone variability, model-measurement comparisons, detection of long-term trends, and data-merging activities.
Author
S. Tegtmeier
Helmholtz
M. I. Hegglin
University of Reading
J. Anderson
Hampton University
A. Bourassa
University of Saskatchewan
Samuel Brohede
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling
D. Degenstein
University of Saskatchewan
L. Froidevaux
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
R. Fuller
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
B. Funke
Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)
J. Gille
University of Colorado at Boulder
A. Jones
University of Toronto
Y. Kasai
Japan National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
K. Krüger
Helmholtz
University of Oslo
E. Kyrölä
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)
G. Lingenfelser
NASA Langley Research Center
J. Lumpe
B. Nardi
National Center for Atmospheric Research
J.L. Neu
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
D. Pendlebury
University of Toronto
E. Remsberg
NASA Langley Research Center
A. Rozanov
Universität Bremen
L. Smith
National Center for Atmospheric Research
M. Toohey
Helmholtz
Joachim Urban
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling
T. von Clarmann
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
K.A. Walker
University of Toronto
R.H.J. Wang
Georgia Institute of Technology
Journal of Geophysical Research
01480227 (ISSN) 21562202 (eISSN)
Vol. 118 21 12229-12247Driving Forces
Sustainable development
Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Climate Research
DOI
10.1002/2013JD019877