Absorption cross-sections of ozone in the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions: Status report 2015

The activity “Absorption Cross-Sections of Ozone” (ACSO) started in 2008 as a joint initiative of the International Ozone Commission (IO3C), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the IGACO (“Integrated Global Atmospheric Chemistry Observations”) O3/UV subgroup to study, evaluate, and recommend the most suitable ozone absorption cross-section laboratory data to be used in atmospheric ozone measurements. The evaluation was basically restricted to ozone absorption cross-sections in the UV range with particular focus on the Huggins band. Up until now, the data of Bass and Paur published in 1985 (BP, 1985) are still officially recommended for such measurements. During the last decade it became obvious that BP (1985) cross-section data have deficits for use in advanced space-borne ozone measurements. At the same time, it was recognized that the origin of systematic differences in ground-based measurements of ozone required further investigation, in particular whether the BP (1985) cross-section data might contribute to these differences. In ACSO, different sets of laboratory ozone absorption cross-section data (including their dependence on temperature) of the group of Reims (France) (Brion et al., 1993, 1998, 1992, 1995, abbreviated as BDM, 1995) and those of Serdyuchenko et al. (2014), and Gorshelev et al. (2014), (abbreviated as SER, 2014) were examined for use in atmospheric ozone measurements in the Huggins band. In conclusion, ACSO recommends: (a) The spectroscopic data of BP (1985) should no longer be used for retrieval of atmospheric ozone measurements. (b) For retrieval of ground-based instruments of total ozone and ozone profile measurements by the Umkehr method performed by Brewer and Dobson instruments data of SER (2014) are recommended to be used. When SER (2014) is used, the difference between total ozone measurements of Brewer and Dobson instruments are very small and the difference between Dobson measurements at AD and CD wavelength pairs are diminished. (c) For ground-based Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) measurements the use of BDM (1995) or SER (2014) is recommended. (d) For satellite retrieval the presently widely used data of BDM (1995) should be used because SER (2014) seems less suitable for retrievals that use wavelengths close to 300 nm due to a deficiency in the signal-to-noise ratio in the SER (2014) dataset. The work of ACSO also showed: • The need to continue laboratory cross-section measurements of ozone of highest quality. The importance of careful characterization of the uncertainties of the laboratory measurements. • The need to extend the scope of such studies to other wavelength ranges (particularly to cover not only the Huggins band but also the comparison with the mid-infrared region). • The need for regular cooperation of experts in spectral laboratory measurements and specialists in atmospheric (ozone) measurements.