Atmospheric Ozone Profiling and Remote Sensing Techniques
Summary
Atmospheric ozone profiling and remote sensing encompass a suite of complementary observations and retrieval methodologies designed to characterise ozone concentration from the surface to the stratosphere. Satellite instruments operating in the ultraviolet, visible and thermal-infrared spectral regions employ limb and nadir viewing geometries to infer vertical ozone distributions using radiance measurements and inversion algorithms. Ground-based platforms, including Dobson and Brewer spectrometers, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometers and microwave radiometers, provide high-precision long-term records at fixed sites. Active remote sensing with differential absorption lidar (DIAL) yields range-resolved ozone number densities in the troposphere, while ozonesonde balloon launches deliver in situ vertical profiles. Retrieval methods hinge on optimal estimation and variational techniques, which combine forward radiative transfer models with a priori constraints. Data assimilation in global chemical transport models integrates these diverse observations to generate consistent three-dimensional ozone fields for forecasting and climate studies. Together, these approaches underpin our understanding of ozone’s role in stratospheric shielding, tropospheric air quality, pollutant transport and the interplay between atmospheric chemistry and dynamics on regional to global scales.
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Atmospheric Ozone Profiling and Remote Sensing Techniques publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in atmospheric ozone profiling and remote sensing techniques across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL): An active remote-sensing technique that transmits laser pulses at two wavelengths to derive range-resolved ozone concentrations from differential backscatter.
Limb Sounding: A satellite observation geometry that measures atmospheric emission or backscattered radiation along the Earth’s limb to enhance vertical resolution of trace-gas profiles.
Optimal Estimation: A statistical inversion method that combines measured radiances with prior information and measurement error characteristics to retrieve vertical profiles of atmospheric constituents.
Data Assimilation: The process of integrating heterogeneous observations into numerical models to produce coherent analyses and forecasts of atmospheric composition.
References
- Tropospheric ozone data assimilation in the NASA GEOS Composition Forecast modeling system (GEOS-CF v2.0) using satellite data for ozone vertical profiles (MLS), total ozone columns (OMI), and thermal infrared radiances (AIRS, IASI). Environmental Research Letters (2023).
- Air mass transport to the tropical western Pacific troposphere inferred from ozone and relative humidity balloon observations above Palau. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2024).
- Satellite observation of lowermost tropospheric ozone by multispectral synergism of IASI thermal infrared and GOME-2 ultraviolet measurements over Europe. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2013).
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