20 Years of Ozonesonde Profiles from Beltsville, MD: Data Quality Assurance and Insights into Tropospheric Ozone Pollution

Understanding the vertical distribution of ozone concentration is important for diagnosing human, vegetation, and global radiation impacts. Balloon-borne ozonesondes (and attached radiosondes) represent the only instrument with the capability to measure profiles of ozone, pressure, temperature, and relative humidity from the surface to about 10hPa (~30 km). Long-term ozonesonde data records are relied upon to validate model output and satellite retrievals of ozone as well as for calculating vertically-resolved trends. The Howard University Beltsville Campus (HUBC) near Washington, DC, has collected nearly 400 ozonesonde profiles since 2004. Following best practices outlined by global ozonesonde experts through the Assessment of Standard Operating Procedures for Ozonesondes 2.0 (ASOPOS 2.0), we summarize the ongoing “homogenization” effort for the HUBC ozonesonde dataset that accounts for variations in sonde preparation and procedures in the HUBC record and provide an overview of tropospheric ozone profiles in the Washington, DC, region (see Figure 1 for monthly averaged ozone profiles at HUBC). Comparisons with ancillary datasets, which include satellite and surface-based Pandora total column ozone, to verify the accuracy of the ozonesonde data will be shown. Our examination of this dataset also provides the first multidecadal analysis of near-surface and tropospheric ozone in the DC region which can be compared to the nearby Wallops Island, VA, ozonesonde station that has operated for more than 50 years.