Total Ozone Variations 1970-74 Using Backscattered Ultraviolet (BUV) and Ground-Based Observations

The most long-lived satellite set of ozone observations, to date, is that derived from the Backscatter Ultraviolet (BUV) ozone sensor on Nimbus 4 and extends from April 1970 through 1976. Unfortunately, this experiment suffered spacecraft power limitations which limited the spatial and temporal coverage and also appears to have suffered from long-term drifts which may be associated with changes in the instrument characteristics or the incident solar flux. We have developed techniques to account for these problems and our purpose here is to present results of the BUV total ozone variations and compare them with those from ground-based observations, specifically the computations of Angell and Korshover (1978). After adjustments for the spatial gaps and comparison with concurrent Dobson ground-based observations, no significant trend was found in the BUV data over the years 1970-74. This finding is in contrast to a general decrease of ∼2% during the same period appearing in the data of Angell and Korshover. The difference in these results is discussed in terms of the geographic sampling and the methods of hemispheric integration.