SAGE—European ozonesonde comparison

Abstract

Between February and December 1979, 30 correlative or ‘ground-truth’ comparisons were conducted of ozone profiles derived from the satellite sensor SAGE (stratospheric aerosol and gas experiment) and those derived from balloon-borne ozonesondes launched in Europe¹. The ozonesonde launches took place at Biscarrosse (44.3° N, 1.2° W), Garmisch–Partenkirchen (47.5° N, 11.0° E), Hohenpeissenberg (47.8° N, 11.0° E), and Lindenberg (52.2° N, 14.1° E). Data comparisons were made when the distance between the SAGE profile and ozonesonde launch location was < 1,500 km and the time interval between the measurements ≤24 h. This is not an ideal situation but is necessary to accomplish many comparisons without a significant perturbation to the schedules of the ozondesonde launch stations. Even with these large differences in time and space, the comparisons are very good with an average difference between 18 and 28km of 8.8%. One comparison, however, was within 1 h and a 13 km spatial distance. This was carried out from the 2 April 1979 launch from the ozone station at Garmisch–Partenkirchen. The results are remarkable and together with the general results from the other comparisons are described below.