Abstract:
The Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) instrument, a successor to the SBUV flown on the Nimbus-7 satellite, is nearly identical to the SBUV/2 instruments flying on the NOAA satellites. SSBUV was flown on the Space Shuttle eight times between 1989 and 1996. The primary purpose of SSBUV was to validate the SBUV/2 ozone data, using discrete measurements at 12 ultraviolet wavelengths ... between 252-340 nm. Details about the SSBUV program can be found in Cebula et al. [1989] and Hilsenrath et al. [1993].
Ozone profiles in the upper atmosphere as well as the total column ozone values are retrieved from measured spectral ultraviolet radiances backscattered by the earth's atmosphere. For the ozone measurements the instrument steps over wavelengths between 252.2 and 339.99 nm while viewing the earth in the nadir position (50x50 km at nadir). The techniques and algorithms employed for SSBUV ozone profiles are nearly identical to Nimbus-7 SBUV/TOMS and NOAA SBUV/2. It is based on Version 8 algorithm. The data have been stored in the ASCII format. File format is similar to the SBUV data. Each data set contains SSBUV Earth view data for a given shuttle flight including spatial-temporal information, average scene reflectivity, ultraviolet albedos (expressed as the logarithm of the ratio of the backscattered radiance to the incident solar irradiance), total ozone (matm-cm), ozone profile mass mixing ratio (ppmv) at 15 levels between 0.3 mb and 100 mb, and data quality flags. Ozone amounts (DU) for 13 atmospheric layers are also included.
SSBUV also measured solar spectral UV irradiance data over the wavelength range 200-406 nm with a resolution of 1.1 nm. Solar spectral data were collected on multiple days during each Shuttle flight, with numerous measurement sequences taken each day (see ssbuvirr data product). The SSBUV instrument was calibrated in the laboratory both before and after each flight, and additional onboard calibration measurements were made during each flight.
SSBUV data are available for the following dates.
Flight #1: 1989 October 19, 20, 21. Flight #2: 1990 October 7, 8, 9. Flight #3: 1991 August 3, 4, 5, 6. Flight #4: 1992 March 29, 31. Flight #5: 1993 April 9, 11, 13, 15, 16. Flight #6: 1994 March 14, 15, 17. Flight #7: 1994 November 5, 7, 10, 13. Flight #8: 1996 January 12, 16, 18. For details see http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/service/gallery/fact_sheets/earthsci/...
Quality
Ozone along orbital track in the nadir and daytime only. Ozone values listed in the ASCII format have been screened to include only those scans that pass quality code standards (as specified in the file header). Portions of mission are dedicated to SSBUV solar view; thus there is incomplete spatial coverage within the stated latitude bounds. ... SBUV total ozone and ozone profiles have been extensively validated using Dobson, Umkehr, balloon and rocket data. Some comparisons have been performed with SAGE ozone profiles. In general there is agreement among these measurements to within the errors of the measurements. These analysis appear in the references. SSBUV data should be at least as accurate as these data.
The confidence levels and accuracy judgments for the SSBUV parameters are as follows:
Ultraviolet Albedos Accuracy: 2% based o NIST absolute standards Wavelength dependent: 1% Precision: 0.5% Flight to flight precision: 1-2%
Total Ozone Accuracy: 2% Precision: 0.5%
Ozone Profile: Accuracy: 5% at 40 km increasing to 10% at upper and lower limits (50 and 25 km)
Hilsenrath, E., R.P. Cebula, M.C. Bories, P.W. DeCamp, L.-K. Huang, C.N. Hui, S.J. Janz, T.J. Kelly, K.R. McCullough, J.J. Mederios, J.T. Riley, B.K. Rice, and C.D. Thorpe, 1996: Contributions of the SSBUV Experiment to Long-Term Ozone Monitoring, in Proc. 18th Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, L'Aquila 1996.
Fleig, A. J., R. D. McPeters, P. K. Bhartia, B. ... Schlesinger, R. P. Cebula, K. F. Klenk, S. L. Taylor, and D. Heath, "Nimbus 7 Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) Ozone Products User's Guide", NASA Reference Publication 1234, (1990)
Cebula, R. P., E. Hilsenrath, T. J. Kelly, G. Batluck, "On the Radiometric Stability of the Shuttle Borne Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Spectrometer", Proc. SPIE, 1493, 91-99, (1991) Hilsenrath, E., P.A. Newman, R.P. Cebula, P.W. DeCamp, T.J. Kelly and L. Coy, "Ozone Change from 1992 to 1993 as Observed from SSBUV on the Atlas-1 and Atlas-2 Missions," Geophy. Res. Lett., 23 2305-2308, 1996.
Hilsenrath, E., R.P. Cebula, M.T. Deland, K. Laamann, S. Taylor, C. Wellemeyer, and P.K. Bhartia, 1995: Calibration of the NOAA-11 Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV/2) Ozone Data Set from 1989 to 1993 using In-Flight Calibration Data and SSBUV, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 1351-1366, 1995.
Hilsenrath, E., D.E. Williams, R.T. Caffrey, R.P. Cebula, and S.J. Hynes, "Calibration and Radiometric Stability of the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) Experiment," Metrologia, 30, 243-248, 1993.
Hilsenrath, E., R.P. Cebula, and C.H. Jackman, "Ozone Depletion in the Upper Stratosphere Estimated from Satellite and Space Shuttle Data," Nature, 358, 131-133, 1992.
Hilsenrath, E., R.P. Cebula, S.J. Hynes, and R.T. Caffrey, "Implications of Space Shuttle Flight on the Calibration of Instruments Observing Atmospheric Ozone and the Solar Irradiance," Metrologia, 28, 301-308, 1991.
Hilsenrath, E., D. Williams, and J. Frederick, "Calibration of Long Term Data Sets from Operational Satellites using the Space Shuttle," SPIE Proc., 924, 215-222, 1988.
