Evaluation of the use of five laboratory determined ozone absorption cross sections in brewer and dobson retrieval algorithms

Abstract

Abstract. The primary ground-based instruments used to report total column ozone (TOC) are Brewer and Dobson Spectrophotometers, in separate networks. These instruments make measurements of the UV irradiances, and through a well-defined process a TOC value is produced. Inherent in the algorithm is the use of a laboratory determined cross-section data set. We used five ozone cross section data sets: three Bass and Paur, Daumont, Malicet and Brion (DMB) and a new Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, set. The three Bass and Paur (1985) sets are: quadratic temperature coefficients from IGACO web page (IGQ4), the Brewer network operational calibration set (BOp), and the set used by Bernhard et al. (2005), in the reanalysis of the Dobson absorption coefficient values (B05). The ozone absorption coefficients for Brewer and Dobson are then calculated using the normal Brewer operative method which is essentially the same as used on Dobson. Considering the standard TOC algorithm for the Brewer instruments and comparing to the Brewer standard operational calibration data set, using the slit functions for the individual instruments: we find the UIP data set changes the calculated TOC by −0.5%, the DBM data set changes the calculate TOC by −3.2%, and the IGQ4 data set at −45 °C changes the calculated TOC by +1.3%. Considering the standard algorithm for the Dobson instruments, and comparing to results using the official 1992 ozone absorption coefficients values and the single set of slit functions defined for all Dobson instruments, the calculated TOC changes by +1%, with little variation depending on which data set is used We applied the changes to the European Dobson and Brewer reference instruments during the Izaña 2012 Absolute Calibration Campaign. The application of a common Langley calibration and the IUP cross section the differences between Brewer and Dobson vanish whereas using Bass and Paur and DBM produce differences of 1.5% and 2% respectively. A study of temperature dependence of these cross section (XS) data sets is presented using the Arosa, Switzerland total ozone record of 2003–2006, obtained from two Brewer instrument types and a Dobson instrument, combined with the stratospheric ozone and temperature profiles from the Payerne soundings in the same period. The seasonal dependence of the differences between the results from the various instruments is greatly reduced with the application of temperature dependent absorption coefficients, with the greatest reduction obtained using the IUP data set.