Mesospheric ozone: Determination from orbit with the OSIRIS instrument on Odin

Abstract

The analysis of the data from the optical spectrograph and infrared imager system (OSIRIS) that will fly on the Odin satellite requires special attention as many of the measurements will be made in regions of the atmosphere that are relatively close to terminator. Under these conditions the photochemical processes in the upper atmosphere that are responsible for much of the oxygen infrared atmospheric band airglow emission are nonstationary. It is this latter aspect that complicates the retrieval of the mesospheric ozone profile from the OSIRIS observations. However, a tomographic analysis technique that has been developed specifically for the Odin project allows accurate recovery of local volume emission rates in the orbit plane. It is shown that the tomographic analysis technique can be combined with nonstationary atmospheric photochemistry models to recover the mesospheric ozone profile near the terminator. PACS Nos.: 94.10Fa, 94.10Rk