A Comparison of TOMS Version 8 Total Column Ozone Data with Data from Groundstations

The Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data have been reprocessed with a new retrieval algorithm, (Version 8) and an updated calibration procedure. These data have been systematically compared to total ozone data from Brewer and Dobson spectrophotometers for 73 individual ground stations. The comparisons were made as a function of latitude, solar zenith angle, reflectivity and total ozone. Results show that the accuracy of the TOMS retrieval is much improved when aerosols are present in the atmosphere, when snow/ice and sea glint are present, and when ozone in the northern hemisphere is extremely low. TOMS overpass data are derived from the single TOMS best match measurement, almost always located within one degree of the ground station and usually made within an hour of local noon. The version 8 Earth Probe TOMS ozone values have decreased by an average of about 1% due to a much better understanding of the calibration of the instrument. The remaining differences between TOMS and ground stations suggest that there are still small errors in the TOMS retrievals. But if TOMS is used as a transfer standard to compare ground stations, the large station-to-station differences suggest the possibility of significant instrument errors at some ground stations.