Mapping tropospheric ozone profiles from an airborne ultraviolet-visible spectrometer.

ABSTRACT

We present a novel technique for retrieving ozone (O3) profiles and especially tropospheric O3 from airborne UV/visible spectrometer measurements. This technique utilizes radiance spectra from one down-looking and two up-looking (85 degrees and 75 degrees) directions, taking advantage of the O3 absorption structure in the Huggins (300-340-nm) and Chappuis (530-650-nm) bands. This technique is especially sensitive to tropospheric O3 below and < or =8 km above the aircraft with a vertical resolution of 2-6 km and is sensitive to lower and middle stratospheric O3 with a vertical resolution of 8-15 km. It can measure tropospheric O3 at spatial resolutions of 2 km x 2 km or higher and is therefore well suited for regional air-quality studies and validation of satellite measurements.