VALIDATION OF THE ORA SPATIAL INVERSION ALGORITHM WITH RESPECT TO THESTRATOSPHERIC AEROSOL AND GAS EXPERIMENT II DATA

We present the results of a comparison of the total extinction altitud e profiles measured at the same time and at same location by the ORA ( Occultation Radiometer) and Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment I I solar occultation experiments at three different wavelengths. A seri es of 25 events for which the grazing points of both experiments lie w ithin a 2 degrees window has been analyzed. The mean relative differen ces observed over the altitude range 15-45 km are -8.4%, 1.6%, and 3% for the three channels (0.385, 0.6, and 1.02 mu m) Some systematic deg radation occurs below 20 km (as the result of signal saturation and po ssible cloud interference) and above 40 km (low absorption). The fair general agreement between the extinction profiles obtained by two diff erent instruments enhances our confidence in the results of the ORA ex periment and of the recently developed vertical inversion algorithm ap plied to real data. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.