Construction of merged satellite total O₃ and NO₂ time series in the tropics for trend studies and evaluation by comparison to NDACC SAOZ measurements

Long series of ozone and NO2 total column measurements at the Southern tropics are available from two ground-based SAOZ (Système d'Analyse par Observation Zenithale) UV-visible spectrometers operated within the NDACC (Network for the Detection of Amtospheric Composition Change) deployed in Bauru in S-E Brazil and Reunion Island in the S-W Indian Ocean in 1995 and 1993 respectively. Although at the same latitude, the data show larger columns of both species above the South American continent than above the Indian Ocean. For verifying the reliability of these data before carrying out trend analysis, they have been compared to satellites observations available during the same period. However, since no single satellite was operating from 1995 until present, the comparison requires the building of a composite, called merged satellites series. As systematic differences exist between the individual data sets because of the many differences between instruments, spectral ranges, absorption cross-sections, and retrieval procedures used, the building of such a composite requires thorough evaluation and normalisation of each. From comparisons with SAOZ, the merged satellite data set build with EP-TOMS from 1995 to 2004 and OMI-TOMS from 2005 to 2012 are found best for ozone in the Southern tropics. After correction for biases with SAOZ, both are confirming the larger ozone columns reported by SAOZ above South America compared to the Indian Ocean shown to origin from ozone production by lightning NOx (LNOx) over the continent in the summer and the advection from Africa of ozone produced by biomass burning emissions in the winter. For NO2, best matching the SAOZ is a combination of GOME GDP4 1996-2003 and SCIAMACHY 2003-2012 products, after correction for the photochemical diurnal change of the concentration of the species between the SAOZ twilight observations and the time of satellites overpasses. The merged data series built from the data of these two satellites fully confirms the larger NO2 column reported by SAOZ above the South American continent as well as and its seasonality. The 35% larger column above Brazil in the summer is shown to be due to the NOx production in the upper troposphere by the frequent lightning during the thunderstorm season, whereas the winter maximum is shown to come from the larger exchange of NOx rich air with mid-latitudes in the lower stratosphere due to the more equatorial latitude of the subtropical jet above South America compared to the Indian Ocean