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STAR / SMCD / SPB Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV/2) Project

false color contour map of the total atmospheric ozone showing the mean ozone for the month of October 2001

This is a false color contour map of the total atmospheric ozone showing the mean ozone for the month of October 2001 over the southern hemisphere as measured by the NOAA-16 SBUV/2 instrument.

Welcome to the SBUV/2 Instrument Web Site

The Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer-2 (SBUV/2) is an operational remote sensor designed to measure, on a global scale, total ozone concentrations and the vertical distribution of ozone in the earth's atmosphere. The instrument itself is a nadir-pointing, nonspatial, spectrally scanning, ultraviolet radiometer. The SBUV/2 measures solar irradiance and Earth radiance in the near ultraviolet spectrum (160-400 nm). The NOAA SBUV/2 instruments have been monitoring the ozone layer continuously since 1985. Its predecessor, the NASA SBUV instrument operated from 1978-1987 so there exists a continuous long term record of measurements since November 1978.

An overview of information available on this site is listed below. Feel free to explore and make use of the information, data, and programs presented here. However we do ask that proper credit is given if any of the information here is used in scientific papers or other publications (including web sites).

Version 8 algorithm data is available on DVD and HTTPS

The latest version of the SBUV(/2) instrument data was released at the 2004 Quadrennial Ozone Symposium. A DVD containing this dataset is available free of charge. Click on the Personnel link on the left side of the page to send us a request. To view the entire contents of the DVD, please peruse the DVD files on the STAR site (software, graphs, documentation, and data are available).

Version 8 DVD data has been updated

NOAA-16 data for 2000-2007 and NOAA-17 data from 2003-2007 have been added to the SBUV/2 FTP site. The data is in the same ASCII format as on the DVD described above. Please note that 2002 NOAA-17 data is still being evaluated and will be available in the near future.

V8 PMF (level-2) Operational Data

The V8 PMF (level-2) operational data is currently available via NOAA's CLASS (Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System) website. Please contact us directly if V8 reprocessed level-2 data is needed. It can be made available via FTP but its size is roughly 10 Mb per day (V8 DVD data files listed above are about 340 Kb in size and are suitable for many users). For information about operational SBUV/2 products, please visit the SBUV/2 products page.

Other information available on this site

  • Total Ozone and Profile Ozone from the SBUV/2 instruments onboard NOAA-9, NOAA-11, NOAA-16, NOAA-17, and NOAA-18. Our DVD ASCII formatted data are available through this site.
  • Reports and Documents will be placed under documentation on the left. Scientific papers, validation results, calibration papers, and more will be available here.
  • Personnel listing for the reprocessed SBUV/2 data and site.
  • Links to other O3 web sites. Ozone educational material, imagery, and policy issues are abundant on the web. We suggest a few useful sites under the "Links" tab.