Technical Note: A new global database of trace gases and aerosols from multiple sources of high vertical resolution measurements

Abstract

Abstract.A new database of trace gases and aerosols with global coverage, derived from high vertical resolution profile measurements, has been assembled as a collection of binary data files; hereafter referred to as the "Binary DataBase of Profiles" (BDBP). Version 1.0 of the BDBP, described here, includes measurements from different satellite-(HALOE, POAM II and III, SAGE I and II) and ground-based measurement systems (ozonesondes). In addition to the primary product of ozone, secondary measurements of other trace gases, aerosol extinction, and temperature are included. All data are subjected to very strict quality control and for every measurement a percentage error on the measurement is included. To facilitate analyses, each measurement is added to 3 different instances (3 different grids) of the database where measurements are indexed by: (1) geographic latitude, longitude, altitude (in 1 km steps) and time, (2) geographic latitude, longitude, pressure (at levels ∼1 km apart) and time, (3) equivalent latitude, potential temperature (8 levels from 300 K to 650 K) and time.In contrast to existing zonal mean databases, by including a wider range of measurement sources (both satellite and ozonesondes), the BDBP is sufficiently dense to permit calculation of changes in ozone by latitude, longitude and altitude. In addition, by including other trace gases such as water vapour, this database can be used for comprehensive radiative transfer calculations. By providing the original measurements rather than derived monthly means, the BDBP is applicable to a wider range of applications than databases containing only monthly mean data. Monthly mean zonal mean ozone concentrations calculated from the BDBP are compared with the database of Randel and Wu, which has been Correspondence to: B. Hassler (b.hassler@niwa.co.nz) used in many earlier analyses. As opposed to that database which is generated from regression model fits, the BDBP uses the original (quality controlled) measurements with no smoothing applied in any way and as a result displays higher natural variability.

The representation of the TTL in a tropical channel version of the WRF model

“…[21] The model is forced with an ozone distribution based on a regression model fit to the ozone data collated within the Binary Database of Profiles (BDBP; Hassler et al, 2008). Measurements are from SAGE I and II, the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) instrument, the Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) II and III instruments, and over 130 ozonesonde stations globally.…”

A new Dobson Umkehr ozone profile retrieval method optimising information content and resolution

“…Seasonal-and latitudinal-dependent temperature, pressure, and a priori ozone profiles are constructed from the binary database of profiles and the vertically resolved ozone database (Hassler et al, 2008(Hassler et al, , 2009. A simple aerosol profile is also included based on that used by Schofield et al (2004a) for the site of Lauder, New Zealand.…”

An updated version of a gap-free monthly mean zonal mean ozone database

“…The BSVertOzone levels of the vertical pressure grid range from about 878.4hPa to 0.046hPa and levels are approximately 1km apart (see Hassler et al (2008) for more detail). Only a few satellite instruments provide data on such a grid and therefore, in most cases, the measurements were interpolated onto the two pre-defined vertical grids.…”

“…While the goal is that each ozonesonde site provides profiles along with uncertainty estimates (Ozonesonde Data Quality Assessment, O3S-DQA) (Tarasick et al, 2016;Deshler et al, 2017;Witte et al, 2017), most data files obtained for use in the generation of BSVertOzone still did not include uncertainty estimates. We therefore continue to use the uncertainty estimates as described in Hassler et al (2008). To extend…”