The US Dobson Station Network Data Record Prior to 2015, Re-evaluation of NDACC and WOUDC archived records with WinDobson processing software
Journal Article
Abstract. The United States government has operated Dobson Ozone Spectrophotometers at various sites, starting during the International Geophysical Year (July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958). A network of stations for longterm monitoring of the total column content (thickness of the ozone layer) of the atmosphere was established in the early 1960s, and eventually grew to sixteen stations, fourteen of which are still operational and submit data to the United States of America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Seven of these sites are also part of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), an organization that maintains its own data archive. Due to recent changes in data processing software the entire data set was reevaluated for possible changes. To evaluate and minimize potential changes caused by the new processing software, the reprocessed data record was compared to the original data record archived in the World Ozone and UV Data Center (WOUDC) in Toronto, Canada. The history of the observations at the individual stations, the instruments used for the NOAA network monitoring at the station, the method for reducing zenith sky observations to total ozone, and calibration procedures were re-evaluated using data quality control tools built into the new software. At the completion of the evaluation, the new data sets are to be published as an update to the WOUDC and NDACC archives, and the entire data set is to be made available to the scientific community. The procedure for reprocessing Dobson data and the results of the re-analysis on the archived record is presented in this paper. A summary of historical changes to fourteen station records is also provided.;
