Ozone profile determination by occultation sounding from the Mir space station: 1. Instrumentation and data processing method

The instrumentation, interpretation procedure, and some examples of ozone p rofile retrieval in space experiments with the Priroda module of the Mir sp ace station are described. The Ozon-Mir spectrometer measured solar radiati on absorption along tangent paths in a large number of spectral channels wi thin the range from 265 to 1130 nm at sunsets. Different stages of telemetr ic information processing are considered. The atmospheric radiative model u sed for computations and the algorithm of data: inversion are discussed. Me asurements in oxygen absorption bands provided an independent:way of referr ing the. data of transmission function measurements to heights. Errors in o zone content determination that are due to different factors are estimated. By and large, the experimental results correlate well with climatic data. At the same time, significant variations in the ozone content were observed . They may be explained by the natural variability of characteristics of at mospheric gaseous composition and also by retrieval errors.