NOAA SBUV(/2) Ozone Merged Cohesive Climate Data Record

Abstract:

The Solar Backscatter UltraViolet (SBUV) instrument flown on Nimbus-7 and the SBUV/2 instruments flown on the NOAA 09, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19 satellites have produced a continuous record of nadir profile ozone observations from 1979 through the present (2015). NASA’s latest reprocessing of the individual satellite data sets have created a version 8.6 which strives to eliminate inter-satellite biases. However, there still are differences in data quality between the instruments flown on the various satellites. Our goal is to remove the remaining differences. Adjustments are made to individual instrument records based on periods of overlap, to account for any variations in the observed annual cycle as well as an overall bias. Rather than an average of all available observations, a single satellite is chosen for each period based on the best latitudinal coverage allowing the clean retention of satellite characteristics such as time of measurement, solar zenith angle, etc. to be identified with an ozone value. Measurements from NOAA-9 are included in a short period to allow greater global coverage in the bridge from NOAA-11 to -14. Measurements from the NASA BUV on Nimbus-4 are excluded since there is no overlap with the subsequent instruments. We will present examples of the methodology to adjust overlapping satellites. We will contrast the original unadjusted data set with our final data set. We will present results from applying a piece-wise linear trend to the data set dividing the depletion period from the recovery period. These results will be shown in comparison with other trend results from other ozone profile datasets.