Total ozone column retrieval from UV-MFRSR irradiance measurements: evaluation at Mauna Loa station

Abstract

The USDA UV-B Monitoring and Research Program (UVMRP) comprises of 36 climatological sites along with 4 long-duration research sites, in 27 states, one Canadian province, and the south island of New Zealand. Each station is equipped with an Ultraviolet multi-filter rotating shadowband radiometer (UV-MFRSR) which can provide response-weighted irradiances at 7 wavelengths (300, 305.5, 311.4, 317.6, 325.4, and 368 nm) with a nominal full width at half maximun of 2 nm. These UV irradiance data from the long term monitoring station at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, are used as input to a retrieval algorithm in order to derive high time frequency total ozone columns. The sensitivity of the algorithm to the different wavelength inputs is tested and the uncertainty of the retrievals is assessed based on error propagation methods. For the validation of the method, collocated hourly ozone data from the Dobson Network of the Global Monitoring Division (GMD) of the Earth System Radiation Laboratory (ESRL) under the jurisdiction of the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the period 2010-2015 were used.