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Topic: Resumption of Good NOAA-16 SBUV/2 Ozone Retrievals. Satellite(s) Involved: NOAA-16 Instrument(s) Involved: SBUV/2Product(s) Involved/Affected: SBUV/2 Total and Profile ozone in binary and BUFR formats. Both daily and orbital products.
Date/Time(UTC) of Initial Implementation:Degradation began Friday Oct 17. Data is of good quality as of Sunday Oct 26.
Contact Person(s) Name/Email/Phone Number for Questions: Donna.McNamara@xxxxxxxx 301-763-8142 ext. 145 Web site(s) that contain other relevant information (where applicable): http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/air/sbuv.html Details/Specifics of Change:Starting with data on Friday Oct 17, NOAA-16 SBUV/2 retrievals started to drift to a high bias. In addition, we noted a large increase in error codes. The problem was traced to a calculated interrange ratio. Due to the orbital drift, the data was not available to properly make that calculation. Good values were provided, but it took several days for the bad values to work through the system, which goes back several days to compute those values. Users may now begin reusing the N16 ozone retrievals in their operations. But the equator crossing time for N16 is now past 1700 local, about 1/3 of the data are flagged for high solar zenith angle and global coverage is very lopsided. Operational users should rely primarily on NOAA-17 and NOAA-18 SBUV/2.
-- Donna P. McNamara Physical Scientist NOAA/NESDIS/OSDPD/SSD/PIB 5200 Auth Rd., Rm 510 Camp Springs MD 20746 Phone: (301)763-8142x145 Fax: (301)899-9196
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