EOS Validation Program

Institution: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
                    M/S 183-901
                    Pasadena, CA 91109
Phone: (818) 354-2625
FAX: (818) 393-5019
E-mail: ssander@jpl.nasa.gov

Dean Peterson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Richard Cageao, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Yuk L. Yung, California Institute of Technology

June 2001
March 2002

The SAGE III Science Team has established requirements for validation studies to assess the precision and accuracy of the SAGE III measurements of O3, NO2, H2O, NO3, OClO and other trace species. This work is aimed at providing ground-based vertical profile and column measurements of NO3 using the same methodology as the actual SAGE III technique, i.e. lunar occultation in the UV/visible spectral region. An existing instrument, the Fourier Transform Ultraviolet Spectrometer (FTUVS), will be used for the proposed measurements from a site at the Table Mountain Facility of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located near Wrightwood, California at 34° N. latitude, 118° W. longitude at an elevation of 2290 m. Validation measurements will be performed for every available moonrise and moonset occultation that coincides with a SAGE III overpass. Also, more limited opportunities will be available to retrieve the vertical profile of NO3 using a technique developed by Solomon and coworkers. The proposed measurements will provide a critical test of the SAGE III retrieval algorithms for NO3.