Satellite ozone retrieval under broken cloud conditions: an error analysis based on Monte-Carlo simulations

Abstract—This paper investigates the influence of horizontally inhomogeneous clouds on the accuracy of total ozone column retrievals from space. The focus here is on retrievals based on backscattered ultraviolet light measurements in Huggins bands in the range of 315–340 nm. It is found that simplifying the description of cloud properties in the ozone-retrieval algorithm studied can produce errors of up to 6%, depending on the error in the assumed cloud parameters. Yet another finding is the fact that independent pixel approximation suffices for ozone-retrieval algorithms. This was found using three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations in the Huggins bands. Index Terms—Clouds, remote sensing, total ozone column, 3-D radiative transfer. I