Temperature dependent ozone absorption cross section spectra measured with the GOME-2 FM3 spectrometer and first application in satellite retrievals

Abstract. The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) Flight Model (FM) absorption cross section spectra of ozone were measured under representative atmospheric conditions in the laboratory setup at temperatures between 203 K and 293 K in the wavelength range of 230–790 nm at a medium spectral resolution of 0.24 to 0.54 nm. Since the exact ozone amounts were unknown in the gas flow system used, the measured ozone cross sections were required to be scaled to absolute cross section units using published literature data. The Hartley, Huggins and Chappuis bands were recorded simultaneously and their temperature dependence is in good agreement with previous studies (strong temperature effect in the Huggins band and weak in the Hartley and Chappuis bands). The overall agreement of the GOME-2 FM cross sections with the literature data is well within 3%. The total ozone column retrieved from the GOME-2/MetOp-A satellite using the new cross section data is within 1% compared to the ozone amounts retrieved from the standard retrieval performed for GOME-2.