scholarly journals Comparisons between SCIAMACHY atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> retrieved using (FSI) WFM-DOAS to ground based FTIR data and the TM3 chemistry transport model

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 5387-5425 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Barkley ◽  
P. S. Monks ◽  
U. Frieß ◽  
R. L. Mittermeier ◽  
H. Fast ◽  
...  

Abstract. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations, retrieved from spectral measurements made in the near infrared (NIR) by the SCIAMACHY instrument, using Full Spectral Initiation Weighting Function Modified Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (FSI WFM-DOAS), are compared to ground based Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) data and to the output from a global chemistry-transport model. Analysis of the FSI WFM-DOAS retrievals with respect to the ground based FTIR instrument, located at Egbert, Canada, show good agreement with an average negative bias of approximately −4.0% with a standard deviation of ~3.0%. This bias which exhibits an apparent seasonal trend, is of unknown origin, though slight differences between the averaging kernels of the instruments and the limited temporal coverage of the FTIR data may be the cause. The relative scatter of the retrieved vertical column densities is comparable to the spread of the FTIR measurements themselves. Normalizing the CO2 columns using the surface pressure does not affect the magnitude of this bias although it slightly increases the scatter of the FSI data. Comparisons of the FSI retrievals to the TM3 global chemistry-transport model, performed over four selected Northern Hemisphere scenes show good agreement. The correlation, between the time series of the SCIAMACHY and model monthly scene averages, are ~0.7 or greater, demonstrating the ability of SCIAMACHY to detect seasonal changes in the CO2 distribution. The amplitude of the seasonal cycle, peak to peak, observed by SCIAMACHY however, is overestimated by a factor of 2–3, which cannot be explained. The yearly means detected by SCIAMACHY are within 2% of those of the model with the mean difference between the CO2 distributions also approximately 2.0%. Additionally, analysis of the retrieved CO2 distributions reveals structure not evident in the model fields which correlates well with land classification type. From these comparisons, the overall precision and bias of the CO2 columns retrieved by the FSI algorithm are estimated to be close to 1.0% and <4.0% respectively.

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4483-4498 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Barkley ◽  
P. S. Monks ◽  
U. Frieß ◽  
R. L. Mittermeier ◽  
H. Fast ◽  
...  

Abstract. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations, retrieved from spectral measurements made in the near infrared (NIR) by the SCIAMACHY instrument, using Full Spectral Initiation Weighting Function Modified Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (FSI WFM-DOAS), are compared to ground based Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) data and to the output from a global chemistry-transport model. Analysis of the FSI WFM-DOAS retrievals with respect to the ground based FTIR instrument, located at Egbert, Canada, show good agreement with an average negative bias of approximately −4.0% with a standard deviation of  3.0%. This bias which exhibits an apparent seasonal trend, is of unknown origin, though slight differences between the averaging kernels of the instruments and the limited temporal coverage of the FTIR data may be the cause. The relative scatter of the retrieved vertical column densities is larger than the spread of the FTIR measurements. Normalizing the CO2 columns using the surface pressure does not affect the magnitude of this bias although it slightly decreases the scatter of the FSI data. Comparisons of the FSI retrievals to the TM3 global chemistry-transport model, performed over four selected Northern Hemisphere scenes show reasonable agreement. The correlation, between the time series of the SCIAMACHY and model monthly scene averages, are  0.7 or greater, demonstrating the ability of SCIAMACHY to detect seasonal changes in the CO2 distribution. The amplitude of the seasonal cycle, peak to peak, observed by SCIAMACHY however, is larger by a factor of 2–3 with respect to the model, which cannot be explained. The yearly means detected by SCIAMACHY are within 2% of those of the model with the mean difference between the CO2 distributions also approximately 2.0%. Additionally, analysis of the retrieved CO2 distributions reveals structure not evident in the model fields which correlates well with land classification type. From these comparisons, it is estimated that the overall bias of the CO2 columns retrieved by the FSI algorithm is <4.0% with the precision of monthly 1°×1° gridded data close to 1.0%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1413-1426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Wang ◽  
Ankie Piters ◽  
Jos van Geffen ◽  
Olaf Tuinder ◽  
Piet Stammes ◽  
...  

Abstract. Tropospheric NO2 and stratospheric NO2 vertical column densities are important TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) data products. In order to validate the TROPOMI NO2 products, KNMI Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instruments have measured NO2 on ship cruises over the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. The MAX-DOAS instruments have participated in five cruises on board RV Sonne (in 2017 and 2019) and RV Maria S. Merian (in 2018). The MAX-DOAS measurements were acquired over 7 months and spanned about 90∘ in latitude and 300∘ in longitude. During the cruises aerosol measurements from Microtops sun photometers were also taken. The MAX-DOAS measured stratospheric NO2 columns between 1.5×1015 and 3.5×1015 molec cm−2 and tropospheric NO2 up to 0.6×1015 molec cm−2. The MAX-DOAS stratospheric NO2 vertical column densities have been compared with TROPOMI stratospheric NO2 vertical column densities and the stratospheric NO2 vertical column densities simulated by the global chemistry Transport Model, version 5, Massively Parallel model (TM5-MP). Good correlation is found between the MAX-DOAS and TROPOMI and TM5 stratospheric NO2 vertical column densities, with a correlation coefficient of 0.93 or larger. The TROPOMI and TM5 stratospheric NO2 vertical column densities are about 0.4×1015 molec cm−2 (19 %) higher than the MAX-DOAS measurements. The TROPOMI tropospheric NO2 also has good agreement with the MAX-DOAS measurements. The tropospheric NO2 vertical column density is as low as 0.5×1015 molec cm−2 over remote oceans.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 3783-3799 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. J. de Laat ◽  
I. Aben ◽  
M. Deeter ◽  
P. Nédélec ◽  
H. Eskes ◽  
...  

Abstract. Validation results from a comparison between Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) V5 Near InfraRed (NIR) carbon monoxide (CO) total column measurements and Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapour on Airbus in-service Aircraft (MOZAIC)/In-Service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) aircraft measurements are presented. A good agreement is found between MOPITT and MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements, consistent with results from earlier studies using different validation data and despite large variability in MOPITT CO total columns along the spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements. Validation results improve when taking the large spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS data into account. No statistically significant drift was detected in the validation results over the period 2002–2010 at global, continental and local (airport) scales. Furthermore, for those situations where MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements differed from the MOPITT a priori, the MOPITT measurements clearly outperformed the MOPITT a priori data, indicating that MOPITT NIR retrievals add value to the MOPITT a priori. Results from a high spatial resolution simulation of the chemistry-transport model MOCAGE (MOdèle de Chimie Atmosphérique à Grande Echelle) showed that the most likely explanation for the large MOPITT variability along the MOZAIC-IAGOS profile flight path is related to spatio-temporal CO variability, which should be kept in mind when using MOZAIC/IAGOS profile measurements for validating satellite nadir observations.


2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 3517-3534 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Barkley ◽  
U. Frieß ◽  
P. S. Monks

Abstract. Satellite measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentrations are a rapidly evolving area of scientific research which can help reduce the uncertainties in the global carbon cycle fluxes and provide insight into surface sources and sinks. One of the emerging CO2 measurement techniques is a relatively new retrieval algorithm called Weighting Function Modified Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (WFM-DOAS) that has been developed by Buchwitz et al. (2000). This algorithm is designed to measure the total columns of CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) through the application to spectral measurements in the near infrared (NIR), made by the SCIAMACHY instrument on-board ENVISAT. The algorithm itself is based on fitting the logarithm of a model reference spectrum and its derivatives to the logarithm of the ratio of a measured nadir radiance and solar irradiance spectrum. In this work, a detailed error assessment of this technique has been conducted and it has been found necessary to include suitable a priori information within the retrieval in order to minimize the errors on the retrieved CO2 columns. Hence, a more flexible implementation of the retrieval technique, called Full Spectral Initiation (FSI) WFM-DOAS, has been developed which generates a reference spectrum for each individual SCIAMACHY observation using the estimated properties of the atmosphere and surface at the time of the measurement. Initial retrievals over Siberia during the summer of 2003 show that the measured CO2 columns are not biased from the input a priori data and that whilst the monthly averaged CO2 distributions contain a high degree of variability, they also contain interesting spatial features.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Liu ◽  
Pieter Valks ◽  
Gaia Pinardi ◽  
Jian Xu ◽  
Ka Lok Chan ◽  
...  

Abstract. Launched in October 2017, the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) aboard Sentinel-5 Precursor provides the potential to monitor air quality over point sources across the globe with a spatial resolution as high as 5.5 km × 3.5 km (7 km × 3.5 km before 6 August 2019). The nitrogen dioxide (NO2) retrieval algorithm for the TROPOMI instrument consists of three steps: the spectral fitting of the slant column, the separation of stratospheric and tropospheric contributions, and the conversion of the slant column to a vertical column using an air mass factor (AMF) calculation. In this work, an improved tropospheric NO2 retrieval algorithm from TROPOMI measurements over Europe is presented. The stratospheric estimation is implemented using the STRatospheric Estimation Algorithm from Mainz (STREAM), which was developed as a verification algorithm for TROPOMI and does not require chemistry transport model data as input. A directionally dependent STREAM (DSTREAM) is developed to correct for the dependency of the stratospheric NO2 on the viewing geometry by up to 2 × 1014 molec/cm2. Applied to synthetic TROPOMI data, the uncertainty in the stratospheric column is 3.5 × 1014 molec/cm2 for polluted conditions. Applied to actual measurements, the smooth variation of stratospheric NO2 at low latitudes is conserved, and stronger stratospheric variation at higher latitudes are captured. For AMF calculation, the climatological surface albedo data is replaced by geometry-dependent effective Lambertian equivalent reflectivity (GE_LER) obtained directly from TROPOMI measurements with a high spatial resolution. Mesoscale-resolution a priori NO2 profiles are obtained from the regional POLYPHEMUS/DLR chemistry transport model with the TNO-MACC emission inventory. Based on the latest TROPOMI operational cloud parameters, a more realistic cloud treatment is provided by a clouds-as-layers (CAL) model, which treats the clouds as uniform layers of water droplets, instead of the clouds-as-reflecting-boundaries (CRB) model, in which clouds are simplified as Lambertian reflectors. For the error analysis, the tropospheric AMF uncertainty, which is the largest source of NO2 uncertainty for polluted scenarios, ranges between 20 % and 50 %, leading to a total uncertainty in the tropospheric NO2 column in the 30–60 % range. From a validation performed with ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements, the improved tropospheric NO2 data shows good correlations for nine European urban/suburban stations with an average correlation coefficient of 0.78. The implementation of the algorithm improvements leads to a decrease of the relative difference from −55.3 % to −34.7 % on average.


2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 2765-2807 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Barkley ◽  
U. Frieß ◽  
P. S. Monks

Abstract. Satellite measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentrations are a rapidly evolving area of scientific research which can help reduce the uncertainties in the global carbon cycle fluxes and provide insight into surface sources and sinks. One of the emerging CO2 measurement techniques is a relatively new retrieval algorithm called Weighting Function Modified Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (WFM-DOAS) that has been developed by Buchwitz et al. (2000). This algorithm is designed to measure the total columns of CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) through the application to spectral measurements in the near infrared (NIR), made by the SCIAMACHY instrument on-board ENVISAT. The algorithm itself is based on fitting the logarithm of a model reference spectrum and its derivatives to the logarithm of the ratio of a measured nadir radiance and solar irradiance spectrum. In this work, a detailed error assessment of this technique has been conducted and it has been found necessary to include suitable a priori information within the retrieval in order to minimize the errors on the retrieved CO2 columns. Hence, a new CO2 retrieval algorithm called Full Spectral Initiation (FSI) WFM-DOAS has been developed which generates a reference spectrum for each individual SCIAMACHY observation using the known properties of the atmosphere and surface at the time of the measurement. Initial retrievals over Siberia during the summer of 2003 show that the measured CO2 columns are not biased from the input a priori data and that whilst the monthly averaged CO2 distributions contain a high degree of variability, they also contain significant spatial features.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 5251-5291
Author(s):  
A. T. J. de Laat ◽  
I. Aben ◽  
M. Deeter ◽  
P. Nédélec ◽  
H. Eskes ◽  
...  

Abstract. Validation results from a comparison between Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) V5 Near InfraRed (NIR) Carbon Monoxide (CO) total column measurements and Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapour on Airbus in-service Aircraft (MOZAIC)/In-Service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) aircraft measurements are presented. A good agreement is found between MOPITT and MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements, consistent with results from earlier studies using different validation data and despite large variability in MOPITT CO total columns along the spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements. Validation results improve when taking the large spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS data into account. No statistically significant drift was detected in the validation results over the period 2002–2010 at global, continental and local (airport) scales. Furthermore, for those situations where MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements differed from the MOPITT a priori, the MOPITT measurements clearly outperformed the MOPITT a priori data, indicating that MOPITT NIR retrievals add value to the MOPITT a priori. Results from a high spatial resolution simulation of the chemistry-transport model MOCAGE (MOdèle de Chimie Atmosphérique à Grande Echelle) showed that the most likely explanation for the large MOPITT variability along the MOZAIC-IAGOS profile flight path is related to spatio-temporal CO variability, which should be kept in mind when using MOZAIC/IAGOS profile measurements for validating satellite nadir observations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6271-6292
Author(s):  
Wenjing Su ◽  
Cheng Liu ◽  
Ka Lok Chan ◽  
Qihou Hu ◽  
Haoran Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present an improved TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) retrieval of formaldehyde (HCHO) over China. The new retrieval optimizes the slant column density (SCD) retrieval and air mass factor (AMF) calculation for TROPOMI observations of HCHO over China. Retrieval of HCHO differential SCDs (DSCDs) is improved using the basic optical differential spectroscopy (BOAS) technique resulting in lower noise and smaller random error, while AMFs are improved with a priori HCHO profiles from a higher resolution regional chemistry transport model. Compared to the operational product, the new TROPOMI HCHO retrieval shows better agreement with ground-based Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements in Beijing. The improvements are mainly related to the AMF calculation with more precise a priori profiles in winter. Using more precise a priori profiles in general reduces HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) by 52.37 % (± 27.09 %) in winter. Considering the aerosol effect in AMF calculation reduces the operational product by 11.46 % (± 1.48 %) and our retrieval by 17.61 % (± 1.92 %) in winter. The improved and operational HCHO are also used to investigate the spatial–temporal characteristics of HCHO over China. The result shows that both improved and operational HCHO VCDs reach maximum in summer and minimum in winter. High HCHO VCDs mainly located over populated areas, i.e., Sichuan Basin and central and eastern China, indicate a significant contribution of anthropogenic emissions. The hotspots are more obvious on the map of the improved HCHO retrieval than the operational product. The result indicates that the improved TROPOMI HCHO retrieval is more suitable for the analysis of regional- and city-scale pollution in China.


2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 3641-3662 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Chen ◽  
B. Zhou ◽  
S. Beirle ◽  
L. M. Chen ◽  
T. Wagner

Abstract. Zenith-sky scattered sunlight observations using differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique were carried out in Shanghai, China (31.3° N, 121.5° E) since December 2006. At this polluted urban site, the measurements provided NO2 total columns in the daytime. Here, we present a new method to extract time series of tropospheric vertical column densities (VCDs) of NO2 from these observations. The derived tropospheric NO2 VCDs are important quantities for the estimation of emissions and for the validation of satellite observations. Our method makes use of assumptions on the relative NO2 height profiles and the diurnal variation of stratospheric NO2 VCDs. The main error sources arise from the uncertainties in the estimated stratospheric slant column densities (SCDs) and the determination of tropospheric NO2 air mass factor (AMF). For a polluted site like Shanghai, the accuracy of our method is conservatively estimated to be <25% for solar zenith angle (SZA) lower than 70°. From simultaneously performed long-path DOAS measurements, the NO2 surface concentrations at the same site were observed and the corresponding tropospheric NO2 VCDs were estimated using the assumed seasonal NO2 profiles in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). By making a comparison between the tropospheric NO2 VCDs from zenith-sky and long-path DOAS measurements, it is found that the former provides more realistic information about total tropospheric pollution than the latter, so it's more suitable for satellite data validation. A comparison between the tropospheric NO2 VCDs from ground-based zenith-sky measurements and SCIAMACHY was also made. Satellite validation for a strongly polluted area is highly needed, but exhibits also a great challenge. Our comparison shows good agreement, considering in particular the different spatial resolutions between the two measurements. Remaining systematic deviations are most probably related to the uncertainties of satellite data caused by the assumptions on aerosol properties as well as the layer heights of aerosols and NO2.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 7909-7927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kanaya ◽  
H. Irie ◽  
H. Takashima ◽  
H. Iwabuchi ◽  
H. Akimoto ◽  
...  

Abstract. We conducted long-term network observations using standardized Multi-Axis Differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instruments in Russia and ASia (MADRAS) from 2007 onwards and made the first synthetic data analysis. At seven locations (Cape Hedo, Fukue and Yokosuka in Japan, Hefei in China, Gwangju in Korea, and Tomsk and Zvenigorod in Russia) with different levels of pollution, we obtained 80 927 retrievals of tropospheric NO2 vertical column density (TropoNO2VCD) and aerosol optical depth (AOD). In the technique, the optimal estimation of the TropoNO2VCD and its profile was performed using aerosol information derived from O4 absorbances simultaneously observed at 460–490 nm. This large data set was used to analyze NO2 climatology systematically, including temporal variations from the seasonal to the diurnal scale. The results were compared with Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite observations and global model simulations. Two NO2 retrievals of OMI satellite data (NASA ver. 2.1 and Dutch OMI NO2 (DOMINO) ver. 2.0) generally showed close correlations with those derived from MAX-DOAS observations, but had low biases of up to ~50%. The bias was distinct when NO2 was abundantly present near the surface and when the AOD was high, suggesting a possibility of incomplete accounting of NO2 near the surface under relatively high aerosol conditions for the satellite observations. Except for constant biases, the satellite observations showed nearly perfect seasonal agreement with MAX-DOAS observations, suggesting that the analysis of seasonal features of the satellite data were robust. Weekend reduction in the TropoNO2VCD found at Yokosuka and Gwangju was absent at Hefei, implying that the major sources had different weekly variation patterns. While the TropoNO2VCD generally decreased during the midday hours, it increased exceptionally at urban/suburban locations (Yokosuka, Gwangju, and Hefei) during winter. A global chemical transport model, MIROC-ESM-CHEM (Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate–Earth System Model–Chemistry), was validated for the first time with respect to background NO2 column densities during summer at Cape Hedo and Fukue in the clean marine atmosphere.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document