Ozone is a crucial trace gas in the Earth’s atmosphere, known for its highly active chemical properties and its involvement in numerous photochemical processes. The temporal evolution and spatial distribution of ozone mixing ratio have significant implications for ecological and climate change, and understanding their vertical distribution is essential for studying mesospheric states and processes. Satellite remote sensing technology plays a key role in ozone monitoring due to its advantages, including low environmental influences, good spatial and temporal continuity, and high resolution for global coverage. However, direct detection via satellite remote sensing, using occultation or ultraviolet absorption and infrared radiation principles, faces several engineering challenges that can lead to inaccuracies in ozone mixing ratio measurements. The O₂(a¹?_g) airglow produced by ozone ultraviolet photolysis, however, offers several advantageous properties, such as strong bulk emissivity, wide spatial coverage, and minimal self-absorption effects. Indirect retrieval of ozone profile information using the O₂(a¹?_g) airglow is both accurate and stable. In this paper, we explore the intrinsic connection between the modeling of airglow photochemical reactions in the O₂(a¹?_g) band and ozone mixing ratio. Using the limb-viewing observation mode, airglow radiance spectral signals in the O₂ infrared atmospheric bands are processed with kinetic photochemical modeling to accurately retrieve ozone profiles in the mesosphere (50?90 km).

Satellite remote sensing of ozone profiles using the O₂(a¹?_g) band as a target source aims to enhance the accuracy of mesospheric ozone mixing ratio retrieval. First, we develop an airglow radiation model that combines the photochemical reaction process with the kinetic processes of resonance absorption in the O₂ infrared atmospheric band. A steady-state equation between the O₂(a¹?_g) state mixing ratio and O₃ mixing ratio is derived based on this model, providing the physical foundation for retrieving ozone profiles from O₂(a¹?_g) band airglow spectra. Next, the airglow emission spectra from SCIAMACHY’s limb-viewing observation mode are processed to extract the O₂(a¹?_g) band airglow in the target layer, using the “onion peeling” algorithm. The molecular number density profile of the O₂(a¹?_g) state airglow is then obtained via spectral integration, which, combined with kinetic model retrieval, yields mesospheric ozone profiles (50?90 km). Finally, the accuracy and technical advantages of O₂(a¹?_g) band airglow retrieval are verified by comparing the results with ozone data from remote sensing satellites such as sounding of the atmosphere using broadband emission radiometry (SABER) and michelson interferometer for passive atmospheric sounding (MIPAS).

The results show that the indirect retrieval method of ozone profiles, using satellite remote sensing technology and the O₂ infrared atmospheric band airglow radiation spectra as the detection source, coupled with kinetic photochemical modeling, allows for accurate global detection of mesospheric ozone profiles. The retrieval results exhibit high accuracy, with a relative error of less than 10% compared to ozone data products from satellites such as SABER (Fig. 7) and MIPAS (Fig. 8). Although MIPAS and SCIAMACHY on the Envisat satellite platform provide a large amount of simultaneous observation spectral data, MIPAS obtains ozone profile information using the thermally excited radiation of ozone at 9.6 μm. However, it experiences data gaps in certain latitudinal regions and at altitudes above 70 km (Figs. 8 and 10). The retrieval of mesospheric ozone profiles using O₂ infrared atmospheric band airglow can fill these gaps in vertical and horizontal coverage, with improvements of 21.4% and 23.1%, respectively. This demonstrates that the O₂ molecular airglow radiation method, using 1.27 μm wavelength band in the mesopause region, offers significant advantages in both horizontal and vertical coverage.

Using O₂ infrared atmospheric band airglow radiation enables accurate global detection of mesospheric ozone profiles, with retrieval results in good agreement with ozone profile data from remote sensing satellites such as SABER and MIPAS. In addition, the retrieval of ozone profiles using SCIAMACHY’s oxygen airglow radiation spectral data can complement the ozone retrieval results from MIPAS on the same satellite platform, confirming that the O₂ molecular airglow radiation method at 1.27 μm has substantial advantages in both horizontal and vertical coverage.