Articles | Volume 21, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12385-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12385-2021
Research article
 | 
18 Aug 2021
Research article |  | 18 Aug 2021

Fifty years of balloon-borne ozone profile measurements at Uccle, Belgium: a short history, the scientific relevance, and the achievements in understanding the vertical ozone distribution

Roeland Van Malderen, Dirk De Muer, Hugo De Backer, Deniz Poyraz, Willem W. Verstraeten, Veerle De Bock, Andy W. Delcloo, Alexander Mangold, Quentin Laffineur, Marc Allaart, Frans Fierens, and Valérie Thouret

Data sets

World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre WOUDC https://doi.org/10.17616/R32C87

Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change NDACC https://doi.org/10.17616/R3ZD10

MOZAIC/CARIBIC/IAGOS data IAGOS https://doi.org/10.25326/20

IRCELINE Belgian Interregional Environment Agency http://www.irceline.be

Aura Validation Data Center AVCD https://avdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/data/satellite/Aura/MLS/V04/L2GPOVP_Prof/O3/Uccle/

TES/Aura L2 Ozone Nadir V007 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/AURA/TES/TL2O3N_L2.007

Model code and software

University of Saskatchewan, Atmospheric Research Group & Long-term Ozone Trends and Uncertainties in the Stratosphere (LOTUS) Group regression model USask ARG/LOTUS https://arg.usask.ca/docs/LOTUS_regression

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Short summary
The main aim of initiating measurements of the vertical distribution of the ozone concentration by means of ozonesondes attached to weather balloons at Uccle in 1969 was to improve weather forecasts. Since then, this measurement technique has barely changed, but the dense, long-term, and homogeneous Uccle dataset currently remains crucial for studying the temporal evolution of ozone from the surface to the stratosphere and is also the backbone of the validation of satellite ozone retrievals.
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