Ozone retrievals from the oxygen infrared channels of the Osiris infrared imager

Abstract

Measurements by OSIRIS, an infrared imaging system that measures emission from excited-state molecular oxygen, are used to retrieve mesospheric ozone through a photochemical model. The design of the model and the spectral data used in the calculation of pho- tochemical production coe±cients are presented. The model has been run in a variety of modes to provide comparisons with measurements of excited-state molec- ular oxygen; it has been found that the model results are in excellent agreement with measurements. The model is used in conjunction with a retrieval scheme to estimate the con- centrations of mesospheric ozone from measurements made on a satellite platform. An analysis of the sensitivity of retrieved ozone to key model parameters is done, and it is shown that uncertainty in several kinetic reaction rates can signi¯cantly change the retrieved results. Comparisons are made for the ozone retrieved in this work and that from several other instruments that make similar measurements. The retrieved concentrations are shown to be in excellent agreement with results from other instruments. The present work provides a climatological database of mesospheric ozone and will provide useful comparisons with concurrent measurements of mesospheric ozone. The new data obtained in this work are in good agreement with expected results, and it is shown that the unprecedented high-spatial resolution of OSIRIS reveals interesting features that should be further investigated.