In this study we compare the satellite-based Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME)-type Total Ozone Essential Climate
Variable (GTO-ECV) record, generated as part of the European Space Agency's Climate
Change Initiative (ESA-CCI) ozone project, with the adjusted total ozone product from
the Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (adjusted MERRA-2)
reanalysis, produced at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global
Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). Total ozone columns and associated standard
deviations show a very good agreement in terms of both spatial and temporal patterns
during their 23-year overlap period from July 1995 to December 2018. The mean difference
between adjusted MERRA-2 and GTO-ECV monthly mean total ozone
columns is %. A small discontinuity in the deviations is detected in October 2004, when data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) were ingested in the GTO-ECV
and adjusted MERRA-2 data records. This induces a small overall negative drift in the differences for almost all
latitude bands, which, however, does not exceed 1 % per decade. The mean difference for
the period prior to October 2004 is %, whereas the difference is %
for the period from October 2004 to December 2018. The variability in the differences is
considerably reduced in the period after 2004 due to a significant increase in data coverage
and sampling. In the tropical region, the differences indicate a slight zonal variability with
negative deviations over the Atlantic, Africa, and the Indian Ocean and positive deviations
over the Pacific. Ozone anomalies and the distribution of their statistical moments indicate
a very high correlation among both data records as to the temporal and spatial structures.
Furthermore, we evaluate the consistency of the data sets by means of an empirical orthogonal
function (EOF) analysis. The interannual variability is assessed in the tropics, and both
GTO-ECV and adjusted MERRA-2 exhibit a remarkable agreement with respect to the derived patterns.
The first four EOFs can be attributed to different modes of interannual climate variability,
and correlations with the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), the El Niño–Southern Oscillation
(ENSO) signal, and the solar cycle were found.