Comparison of ozone profiles by the Umkehr measurements taken at Belsk (52N, 21E) with the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder overpasses: 2004–2006

[1] A comparison of ozone profile measurements by the Umkehr observations taken at Belsk (52N, 21E) by the Dobson spectrophotometer and collocated Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura platform during 2004–2006 site overpasses is presented. The MLS ozone vertical profiles from 1.5 and 2.2 retrieval algorithms and various Umkehr retrievals are considered. There is a good agreement between the ozone content in Umkehr layers. The mean difference ±5%, standard deviation of the relative differences < 10%, and the correlation coefficient> 0.5 are found in the midstratosphere (Umkehr layers 5–7) and in the upper stratosphere (combined layers 8, 9, and 10). In the lower stratosphere (combined layers 2 and 3 and layer 4) the mean difference and/or standard deviation are larger but the correlation coefficient is still high (0.8). Ozone content in Umkehr layers by integration of MLS version 1.5 and 2.2 ozone mixing ratio profiles behaves very similarly in the comparisons with the ground-based data