Satellite Remote Sensing of Total Column Ozone over Peninsular Malaysia

Total column ozone obtained from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the Aura satellite was utilized to examine the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric ozone over Peninsular Malaysia for the year of 2015. The monthly ozone maps were obtained from the NASA-operated Giovanni portal (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/giovanni). Ozone has an inverse relationship with the rain and positive with temperature. The fluctuation in the ozone values during the Northeast monsoon and Southwest monsoon seasons was caused by the variations of the number of sunny days, the variations of the precipitation, greater cloud cover which were influenced by the effects of biomass burning in several provinces in Sumatera and Kalimantan, Indonesia, emissions from motor vehicles and trans-boundary pollution. The ozone fluctuated considerably observed between Southwest monsoon and Northeast monsoon seasons through the analysis of ozone for the desired study area. For seasonal variability, the trend of total column ozone shows a distinct seasonal pattern, with maximum in August or September and minimum in December or January. For upcoming studies, validation of satellite ozone data with in situ measurements and study of tropospheric ozone over this region is recommended.