Retrieval of Ozone Profiles from Limb Scattering Measurements of the OMS on FY-3F Satellite

The Ozone Monitoring Suite–Limb (OMS-L) carried by the Fengyun-3F (FY-3F) satellite, as China’s first effective payload using the limb observation mode to conduct hyperspectral atmospheric detection in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (Vis) bands, was successfully launched on 3 August 2023. It mainly serves the research in the fields of climate change, atmospheric chemistry, and atmospheric environment. This study is the first to conduct the retrieval of the ozone profiles from OMS-L data. The retrieval scheme utilizes the radiances within the UV band, normalizing them to the radiance at the upper tangent height. To minimize the impact of aerosol scattering, the pair method is implemented, with seven carefully selected wavelength pairs fully exploiting ozone’s UV absorption characteristics. The weighted multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (WMART) is then applied to effectively integrate multi-wavelength information, in tandem with an iterative retrieval process using the radiative transfer model. This approach yields ozone concentration profiles in the altitude range of approximately 18–55 km. The retrieval errors resulting from the parameters are estimated to be 5–13% above 25 km, increasing to 10–30% in the upper troposphere. Comparison of OMS-L retrieved ozone profiles with the OMPS/LP v2.6 product reveals good consistency, with differences generally within 10% in the 20–50 km altitude range. However, biases are more pronounced at lower altitudes, particularly in tropical regions. This work conclusively demonstrates that OMS-L can accurately measure stratospheric ozone profiles with high vertical resolution, thereby contributing significantly to the field of atmospheric science.