A total ozone‐dependent ozone profile climatology based on ozonesondes and Aura MLS data

Abstract Ozone profiles measured with the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and ozonesondes are used to create a new ozone climatology that can be used for satellite retrievals and radiative transfer studies. The climatology is binned according to total column ozone amount and latitude rather than with season. Because of high correlation between ozone profile shape and total ozone, the ozone profiles in this climatology capture ozone variations well, especially near the tropopause. This climatology has been constructed from nearly a million individual MLS ozone profile measurements taken between 2004 and 2013 as well as over 55,000 ozonesonde measurements from 1988 to 2011. The MLS profiles were sorted by total column ozone as measured by Ozone Monitoring Instrument in observations that were coincident with the MLS measurements. The data from the sondes were used in the troposphere and lower stratosphere and MLS in the middle and upper stratosphere. These two data sets were blended together between 13 and 17 km (~159–88 hPa). This climatology consists of average ozone profiles as a function of total ozone for six 30° latitude bands covering altitudes between 0 and 75 km (in Z* pressure altitude coordinates) as well as the corresponding standard deviations for each layer. There is no seasonal component. This new climatology shows some remarkable and somewhat unexpected correlations between the total column ozone and the ozone amount at some layers, particularly in the lower and middle troposphere in some latitude bands.