Total ozone measurements in cloudy weather

Abstract

Obtaining an accurate, value for total ozone under a cloudy sky, especially when the sun is not high, is a major remaining problem associated with total ozone measurements. The Toronto spectrophotometer has been designed with this in mind. It has been fitted with a polarizing prism, and measures light at four wavelengths simultaneous which makes it possible to obtain two independent double ratios. Clouds produce two effects on ozone measurements; the first is purely an optical effect which causes an apparent increase in ozone, the second is most likely a real increase in ozone associated with large cumulus-type clouds. By considering the three following points it is possible to distinguish between these two cloud effects and probably measure the true total ozone for solar zenith angles less than 80°: 1. The multiply scattered component of polarized light is used to reduce optical cloud variance. This makes all skies appear like thick coulds. 2. A double difference similar to the AD method is used but the two ratios of the double difference are weighted inversely with‡β(‡β=β ₁ -β ₂ for a pair). This further reduces the optical effects of clouds. 3. Real ozone increases due to large clouds are verified by comparing the increase of ozone obtained from one double difference to that of another. Differences between this multiply, polarized curve and the direct sun curve will be given, and a technique to obtain an accurate value of total ozone under all sky conditions, provided that the solar zenith angle is less than 80°, will be given.