Operational monitoring of the Antarctic ozone hole: Transition from GOME and SCIAMACHY to GOME-2

Abstract

The European satellite-borne atmospheric sensors global ozone monitoring experiment (GOME), scanning imaging absorption spectrometer for atmospheric chartography (SCIAMACHY) and GOME-2 provide an important global ozone data record covering an expected time span of over 25 years. Accurate measurements of total ozone and other trace gas species have been gathered by GOME (since July 1995) and SCIAMACHY (since June 2002). This record has recently been extended with observations from the first GOME-2 sensor (fromMarch 2007). Two other identical GOME-2 sensors have been built and their future deployment in the next decade will provide global ozone and trace gas data for the next 14 years. The main goal of this chapter is to present results from the monitoring of the Antarctic ozone hole from 1995 to 2007 with these three instruments. Additionally, the algorithms currently used for total ozone retrieval and data assimilation are outlined, together with validation results and perspectives for future developments. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.