Vertical Profile of Ozone Derived from Combined Mls and Tes Satellite Observations

Abstract

Ozone is one of the most important gases in the atmosphere as it plays different roles based on the levels it presents. The ozone layer in the stratosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet (UV) radiance while harms life at ground-level. To better understand the source of ozone pollution, ozone transportation, stratospheretroposphere exchange of ozone, etc., estimating the vertical profile of ozone becomes reasonably necessary. In this study, we derive the vertical ozone profile throughout the troposphere to the stratosphere by combing ozone retrievals from MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) and TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer). We design the combining algorithm based on the MLS and TES retrieved vertical profiles of ozone, and averaging kernels of MLS, which represent the vertical sensitivity of the instrument. Therefore, the high-quality information measured by MLS in upper pressure levels is combined with the high-quality information measured by TES in lower pressure levels. Several examples of combination results, including vertical and horizontal distributions and a single case of vertical profile validation are also presented. The results and validation case indicate that the combined products extract high-quality information from MLS and TES in both upper and lower pressure levels and have better performance than other products in general.

Keywords: Ozone, vertical profile, MLS, TES, Stratosphere-troposphere ozone exchange