Joint Retrieval of Ozone Profile in Near Space Based on the Atmospheric and Near Infrared Atmospheric Bands of O₂ Airglow

The vertical distribution of ozone in the near space is a key scientific issue for revealing atmospheric photochemical processes and energy transmission mechanisms. However, given the complex environment in near space and limitations in detection methods, realizing high-precision and wide-range ozone profile retrieval with traditional methods is difficult. This study innovatively proposes a joint retrieval method for near-space ozone profiles based on the theory of O2 molecular airglow spectroscopy. The research establishes an airglow photochemical model based on the generation and loss mechanisms of O2 (a<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${}^{1} \Delta _{\mathrm { g}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and O2 (b<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${}^{1} \Sigma ^{+}_{\mathrm { g}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) states and combines Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY limb-viewing data to achieve accurate retrieval of ozone distribution in the near space. The retrieval results are cross-validated using multisource satellite observation data, such as those on Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) and Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). The findings demonstrate that the joint retrieval method successfully retrieves ozone concentrations in the 30–130-km altitude range, with overlapping spectral bands providing mutual verification. The retrieved ozone concentrations exhibit a deviation of less than 1 part per million (ppm) by volume compared with the SABER data and a linear correlation coefficient of 0.96 compared with MIPAS data in the 40–110-km range. These findings fully validate the effectiveness and reliability of the retrieval method and offer a novel technical approach for ozone detection in the near-space region.