Validation of SAGE III/ISS Solar Ozone Data with Correlative Satellite
and Ground Based Measurements
Abstract
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International
Space Station (SAGE III/ISS) was launched on February 19, 2017 and began
routine operation in June 2017. The first two years of SAGE III/ISS
(v5.1) solar ozone data were evaluated by using correlative satellite
and ground-based measurements. Among the three (MES, AO3, and MLR) SAGE
III/ISS solar ozone products, AO3 ozone shows the best accuracy and
precision, with mean biases less than 5% for altitudes
~15–55 km in the mid-latitudes and
~20–55 km in the tropics. In the lower stratosphere and
upper troposphere, AO3 ozone shows high biases that increase with
decreasing altitudes and reach ~10% near the
tropopause. Preliminary studies indicate that those high biases
primarily result from the contributions of the oxygen dimer (O) not
being appropriately removed within the ozone channel. The precision of
AO3 ozone is estimated to be ~3% for altitudes between
20 and 40 km. It degrades to ~10–15% in the lower
mesosphere (~55 km), and ~20–30% near
the tropopause. There could be an altitude registration error of
~100 meter in the SAGE III/ISS auxiliary temperature and
pressure profiles. This, however, does not affect retrieved ozone
profiles in native number density on geometric altitude coordinates. In
the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere (~40–55 km)
the SAGE III/ISS (and SAGE II) sunset ozone values are systematically
higher than sunrise data by ~5–8% which are almost
twice larger than what observed by other satellites or model
predictions. This feature needs further study.