Satellite Ozone Retrieval and Comparison of AIRS and OMI Profiles to Ozonesonde Profiles

In this project, tropospheric ozone during upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) and long-range transport events were analyzed to determine the link between satellite retrievals and in-situ measurements. Tropospheric ozone is difficult to retrieve from satellites because of the abundance of ozone in the stratosphere. Tropospheric ozone has become a significant environmental issue and can be exacerbated by UT/LS folding and long-range transport events. Furthermore, it is shown that using both surface measurements and satellite retrievals of ozone can help identify particulars of ozone pollution events not driven by local emissions. We compared two ozone research products from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), the current validated Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) ozone retrievals, and ozone-sonde profiles for a complex pollution episode in July of 2008 over northern California and Oregon. We also compared surface hourly measurements with OMI and AIRS to try to differentiate between UT/LS and long-range transport events. We focused our analysis on comparing satellite retrievals to ozone-sondes released at Trinidad Head, California, highlighting the differences in sensitivity between the two satellite instruments. Tropospheric columns from all three satellite products were compared and analyzed to give further insight into whether pollution was due to UT/LS or long-range transport events. From the analysis we find that satellite retrievals of tropospheric ozone can help differentiate pollution sources, which may help air-quality managers identify “exceptional events” in the future.