ALGORITHM FOR THE ESTIMATION OF VERTICAL OZONE PROFILES FROM THE BACKSCATTERED ULTRAVIOLET TECHNIQUE

An implementation of the optimal estimation scheme ro obtain vertical ozone profiles from satellite measurements of backscattered solar ultr aviolet (buv) radiation is described. This algorithm (Version 6.0) has been used to produce a 15-year data set of global ozone profiles from Nimbus 7 SBUV, NOAA 11 SBUV/2, and Space Shuttle SSBUV instruments. A detailed discussion of the information content of the measurement is presented. Using high vertical resolution ozone profiles from the SAGE II experiment as ''truth'' profiles, it is shown that the buv techniq ue can capture short-term variabilities of ozone in 5-km vertical laye rs, between 0.3 mbar and 100 mbar, with a precision of 5-15%. However, outside the 1-20 mbar range, buv-derived results are heavily influenc ed by a priori assumptions. To minimize this influence, it is recommen ded that the studies of long-term trends using buv data be restricted to 1-20 mbar range. Outside this range, only the column amounts of ozo ne between 20 mbar and surface, and above 1 mbar, can be considered re latively free of a priori assumptions.