Retrievals of lower stratospheric ozone profiles from Nimbus-4 and their use in a synoptic-climatological study

Radiation data from the Backscatter Ultraviolet (BUV) instrument on Nimbus 4, although designed for retrieval of total ozone and ozone profiles above the ozone maximum, were used in an empirical method to extrapolate ozone profiles to the lower stratosphere. Ozone data and radiation data were first decomposed into eigenvectors and associated coefficients. Since the coefficients are orthogonal to each other, they form linearly independent data sets which were regressed in a least squares manner forming a basis from which retrievals were obtained. After the retrieved profiles were found to correlate with observed profiles, a year of retrieved data was analyzed to yield daily synoptic maps. A synoptic-climatological study was done using the maps, focusing on the winter of 1970 to 1971 for the synoptic study. The climatological study encompassed the full year of analyzed maps. A figure of 50 metric tons per second of vertically integrated fluxes by the eddies across a latitude circle at high latitudes during the winter corresponds to observational and numerical studies.