SCIAMACHY solar occultation: Ozone and NO2 profiles 2002-2007

Abstract

SCIAMACHY on-board ENVISAT is measuring solar irradiances and Earthshine radiances from the UV to the NIR spectral region in nadir, limb, and lunar as well as solar occultation geometry. Solar occultation measurements are performed in Sun-scanning mode during sunset at northern latitudes between 49°N and 69°N, depending on season. The radiative transfer and retrieval code SCIATRAN 2.1 is used to derive vertical profiles of ozone and NO2 from the SCIAMACHY solar occultation measurements. The retrieval scheme is an optimal estimation approach with Twomey-Tikhonov regularization. Ozone and NO2 are simultaneously retrieved in the fit windows 524-590 nm and 425-453 nm, respectively. Here we present an almost complete dataset from August 2002 to August 2007, including validation results with independent measurements from the satellite instruments HALOE and SAGE II. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.