SOLSE Scientific Results

Abstract. Two instruments were flown on Shuttle flight STS-87 to test a new technique for inferring the ozone vertical profile using measurements of scattered sunlight from the Earth's limb. The instruments were an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer designed to measure ozone between 30 and 50 km, and a multi-filter imaging photometer that uses 600 nm radiances to measure ozone between 15 km and 35 km. Two orbits of limb data were obtained on December 2, 1997. For the scans analyzed, the ozone profile was measured from 15 km to 45 km with approximately 3 km vertical resolution. Comparisons with a profile from an ozonesonde launched from Ascension Island showed agreement mostly within ±5%. The tropopause at 15 km appears to have been detected in this comparison. A comparison with two HALOE ozone profiles showed that on average ozone measured by SOLSE ozone was lower by 9%±5% in the 30 km to 45 km range.

reference:	McPeters, R.D., S. Janz, E. Hilsenrath, T. Brown, D. Flittner, and D. Heath, 
		The retrieval of ozone profiles from limb scatter measurements: Results from 
		the Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 2597-2600, 2000.

Abstract: An algorithm is presented for retrieving vertical profiles of O3 concentration using measurements of UV and visible light scattered from the limb of the atmosphere. The UV measurements provide information about the O3 profile in the upper and middle stratosphere, while only visible wavelengths are capable of probing the lower stratospheric O3 profile. Sensitivity to the underlying scene reflectance is greatly reduced by normalizing measurements at a tangent height high in the atmosphere (~55 km), and relating measurements taken at lower altitudes to this normalization point. To decrease the effect of scattering by thin aerosols/clouds that may be present in the field of view, these normalized measurements are then combined by pairing wavelengths with strong and weak O3 absorption. Excluding pointing errors, we conclude that limb scatter can be used to measure O3 between 15 km and 50 km with 2-3 km vertical resolution and better than 10% accuracy.

reference:	Flittner, D.E., B. Herman, and P.K. Bhartia, The retrieval of ozone profiles from limb scatter 
		measurements: Theory, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 2601-2604, 2000.

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