Common Calibration Source for Monitoring Long-term Ozone Trends

Accurate long-term satellite measurements are crucial for monitoring the recovery of the ozone layer. The slow pace of the recovery and limited lifetimes of satellite monitoring instruments demands that datasets from multiple observation systems be combined to provide the long-term accuracy needed. A fundamental component of accurately monitoring long-term trends is the calibration of these various instruments. NASA's Radiometric Calibration and Development Facility at the Goddard Space Flight Center has provided resources to minimize calibration biases between multiple instruments through the use of a common calibration source and standardized procedures traceable to national standards. The Facility's 50cm barium sulfate integrating sphere has been used as a common calibration source for both US and international satellite instruments, including the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), Solar Backscatter UltraViolet 2 (SBUV/2) instruments, Shuttle SBUV (SSBUV), Ozone Mapping Instrument (OMI), Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) (ESA), SCanning Imaging SpectroMeter for Atmospheric ChartographY (SCIAMACHY) (ESA), and others. We will discuss the advantages of using a common calibration source and its effects on long-term ozone data sets. In addition, sphere calibration results from various instruments will be presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the long-term characterization of the source itself.