Comparison of mesospheric ozone abundances measured by the Solar Mesosphere Explorer and model calculations

Ozone observations in the mesosphere obtained by the near infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers onboard the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) satellite are compared to two dimensional model calculations for the month of January. In general, the model calculated abundances are somewhat smaller than those measured, but exhibit similar trends with respect to altitude and latitude. The possible causes of discrepancies include the mesospheric H 2 O content and photochemical reaction rates, particularly the rate of O 2 photolysis.