Evaluation of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ozone profiles and total ozone retrievals with matched ozonesonde measurements, ECMWF ozone data, and Ozone Monitoring Instrument retrievals

Abstract

An evaluation of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) version 4 (V4) and version 5 (V5) retrieved ozone profiles and the total column ozone is performed using collocated ozonesonde (O3SND) profiles and total ozone measurements from the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Center (WOUDC) archives. Using O3SNDs and Brewer/Dobson Network (BD) measurements as the truth, bias and root‐mean‐squared (RMS) difference statistics are computed for the AIRS ozone profile retrievals and the derived total ozone. In addition, global monthly maps of total ozone generated for the AIRS retrievals are compared with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet (SBUV/2) instrument derived maps to evaluate the characteristic trends and seasonal cycle depicted by the AIRS retrieval. The results of the validation exercise reveal that the AIRS V5 algorithm significantly improves the ozone profile retrieval biases and RMS differences for the lower troposphere and, especially, over the tropical region where the V4 algorithm shows larger discrepancies with the O3SND measurements. The V5 retrieval biases with global O3SNDs are less than 5% for both the stratosphere and the troposphere. The RMS differences are less than 20% for the upper stratosphere and are close to 20% for the lower stratosphere and the troposphere. Total ozone amounts from both the V4 and V5 versions agree well with the global BD station measurements with a bias of less than 4% and an RMS difference of approximately 8%. Analysis of V5 total ozone monthly maps reveals that the V5 ozone retrievals depict seasonal trends and patterns in concurrence with OMI and SBUV/2 observations.