Assessment of the quality of ACE-FTS stratospheric ozone data
Journal article, 2022

For the past 17 years, the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) instrument on the Canadian SCISAT satellite has been measuring profiles of atmospheric ozone. The latest operational versions of the level 2 ozone data are versions 3.6 and 4.1. This study characterizes how both products compare with correlative data from other limb-sounding satellite instruments, namely MAESTRO, MLS, OSIRIS, SABER, and SMR. In general, v3.6, with respect to the other instruments, exhibits a smaller bias (which is on the order of similar to 3 %) in the middle stratosphere than v4.1 (similar to 2 %-9 %); however, the bias exhibited in the v4.1 data tends to be more stable, i.e. not changing significantly over time in any altitude region. In the lower stratosphere, v3.6 has a positive bias of about 3 %-5 % that is stable to within +/- 1 % per decade, and v4.1 has a bias on the order of -1 % to +5 % and is also stable to within +/- 1 % per decade. In the middle stratosphere, v3.6 has a positive bias of similar to 3 % with a significant negative drift on the order of 0.5 %-2.5 % per decade, and v4.1 has a positive bias of 2 %-9 % that is stable to within +/- 0.5 % per decade. In the upper stratosphere, v3.6 has a positive bias that increases with altitude up to similar to 16 % and a significant negative drift on the order of 2 %-3 % per decade, and v4.1 has a positive bias that increases with altitude up to similar to 15 % and is stable to within +/- 1 % per decade. Estimates indicate that both versions 3.6 and 4.1 have precision values on the order of 0.1-0.2 ppmv below 20 km and above 45 km (similar to 5 %-10 %, depending on altitude). Between 20 and 45 km, the estimated v3.6 precision of similar to 4 %-6 % is better than the estimated v4.1 precision of similar to 6 %-10 %.

Author

Patrick E. Sheese

University of Toronto

Kaley A. Walker

University of Toronto

Chris D. Boone

University of Waterloo

Adam E. Bourassa

University of Saskatchewan

Doug A. Degenstein

University of Saskatchewan

Lucien Froidevaux

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

C. Thomas McElroy

York University

Donal Murtagh

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Geoscience and Remote Sensing

James M. Russell Iii

Hampton University

Jiansheng Zou

University of Toronto

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques

1867-1381 (ISSN) 1867-8548 (eISSN)

Vol. 15 5 1233-1249

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Geophysics

Physical Geography

DOI

10.5194/amt-15-1233-2022

More information

Latest update

3/29/2022