An improved rocket ozonesonde (ROCOZ‐A): 3. Northern mid‐latitude ozone measurements from 1983 to 1985

Abstract

We report the results of a set of ozone measurements at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility (37.8°N, 75.5°W) from August 1983 to September 1985. Nineteen profiles were obtained during this period, using ROCOZ‐A and electrochemical concentration cell ozonesondes, standard U.S. meteorological radio‐sondes, and Super‐Loki datasondes. Complete profiles of ozone, pressure, and temperature were obtained from the ground to 52 km, and 18 of the profiles correspond to site overpasses by ozone instruments on NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. The profiles from this data set show reasonable agreement with established ozone climatologies. The annual ozone variability from the data set is roughly two thirds of the variability from the ozone model for the U.S. Standard Atmosphere (1976). The agreement between total ozone measurements from this data set and concurrent Dobson direct‐Sun total ozone measurements is excellent. The precision of ROCOZ‐A ozone values has been measured at the 3% level (1σ), and the accuracy of the ozone values is estimated at 5–7%. Since the ROCOZ‐A radiometers are expendable, the long‐term repeatability of the ozone measurements is based on a calibration facility which uses standards that are traceable to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). The assembly of ROCOZ‐A ozone, pressure, and temperature measurements presented here allows the use of this data set as a transfer standard between satellite instruments with different fundamental ozone measurements. In addition, this data set can be used for comparisons of modeled and measured ozone amounts in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere. Such comparisons should prove valuable, since model results are typically 30–50% lower than measured ozone concentrations at altitudes above 35 km.