Comparison between TOMS, TOVS and DOBSON observations: satellite and surface views of total column ozone

TOVS infrared and microwave observations are now being used to estimate total column ozone over the globe by employing a new physical retrieval algorithm. The TOVS archives from 1979 to the present have been reprocessed, and the results during the great Antartic “ozone hole” of 1987 are compared with the corresponding TOMS and DOBSON ultraviolet observations of total ozone. The TOVS total ozone patterns appear to be reliable on the synoptic scale and provide a unique opportunity to track ozone variations during polar night. However, there are times and places where each of the three ozone datasets contains errors that are significantly larger than a few percent.