Q. What AIRS data should I use to study ozone near the tropopause.
A. The Level 3 product provides only the total column O3.
The Level 2 product, provides a 28 layer O3 VMR.
Download the V5_L2_Standard_Product_QuickStart.pdf and look at page 32
and following for a description of the AIRS Standard Ozone Product.
OMI has a long heritage on O3 column ozone, and MLS provides a better
profile information in the stratosphere. AIRS provides useful
information in the mid-latitude regions for studying strat-trop
transport and exchange, and it does reasonably well in the mid-lat
lower stratosphere.
The very best data are the oceanic fields of view for which
qual_O3 = 0 and qual_surf = 0.