Study on the Ground-Based FTS Measurements at Beijing, China and the Colocation Sensitivity of Satellite Data

The Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) at the Beijing Satellite Meteorological Ground Station observed XCO2 (the dry carbon dioxide column) from 2 March 2016 to 4 December 2018. The validation results of ground-based XCO2, as well as GOSAT, OCO-2, and TanSat XCO2, show that the best temporal matching setting for ground-based XCO2 and satellite XCO2 is ±1 h, and the best spatial matching setting for GOSAT is 0.5° × 0.5°. Consistent with OCO-2, the best spatial matching setting of TanSat is 5° × 5° or 6° × 6°. Among GOSAT, OCO-2, and TanSat, the satellite observation validation characteristics near 5° × 5° from the ground-based station are obviously different from other spatial matching grids, which may be due to the different observation characteristics of satellites near 5° × 5°. To study the influence of local CO2 sources on the characteristics of satellite observation validation, we classified the daily XCO2 observation sequence into concentrated, dispersive, increasing, and decreasing types, respectively, and then validated the satellite observations. The results showed that the concentrated and decreasing sub-datasets have better validation performance. Our results suggest that it is best to use concentrated and decreasing sub-datasets when using the Beijing Satellite Meteorological Ground Station XCO2 for satellite validation. The temporal matching setting should be ±1 h, and the spatial matching setting should consider the satellites observation characteristics of 5° × 5° distance from the ground-based station.

Investigation of space-borne trace gas products over St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Russia by using COCCON observations

This work employs ground- and space-based observations, together with model data to study columnar abundances of atmospheric trace gases (XH2O, XCO2, XCH4, and XCO) in two high-latitude Russian cities, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Two portable COllaborative Column Carbon Observing Network (COCCON) spectrometers were used for continuous measurements at these locations during 2019 and 2020. Additionally, a subset of data of special interest (a strong gradient in XCH4 and XCO was detected) collected in the framework of a mobile city campaign performed in 2019 using both instruments is investigated. All studied satellite products (TROPOMI, OCO-2, GOSAT, MUSICA IASI) show generally good agreement with COCCON observations. Satellite and ground-based observations at high latitude are much sparser than at low or mid latitude, which makes direct coincident comparisons between remote-sensing observations more difficult. Therefore, a method of scaling continuous CAMS model data to the ground-based observations is developed and used for creating virtual COCCON observations. These adjusted CAMS data are then used for satellite validation, showing good agreement in both Peterhof and Yekaterinburg cities. The gradients between the two study sites (ΔXgas) are similar between CAMS and CAMS-COCCON data sets, indicating that the model gradients are in agreement with the gradients observed by COCCON. This is further supported by a few simultaneous COCCON and satellite ΔXgas measurements, which also agree with the model gradient. With respect to the city campaign observations recorded in St. Petersburg, the downwind COCCON station measured obvious enhancements for both XCH4 (10.6 ppb) and XCO (9.5 ppb), which is nicely reflected by TROPOMI observations, which detect city-scale gradients of the order 9.4 ppb for XCH4 and 12.5 ppb XCO, respectively.

European Space Agency (ESA) Calibration/Validation Strategy for Optical Land-Imaging Satellites and Pathway towards Interoperability

Land remote sensing capabilities in the optical domain have dramatically increased in the past decade, owing to the unprecedented growth of space-borne systems providing a wealth of measurements at enhanced spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions. Yet, critical questions remain as how to unlock the potential of such massive amounts of data, which are complementary in principle but inherently diverse in terms of products specifications, algorithm definition and validation approaches. Likewise, there is a recent increase in spatiotemporal coverage of in situ reference data, although inconsistencies in the used measurement practices and in the associated quality information still hinder their integrated use for satellite products validation. In order to address the above-mentioned challenges, the European Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with other Space Agencies and international partners, is elaborating a strategy for establishing guidelines and common protocols for the calibration and validation (Cal/Val) of optical land imaging sensors. Within this paper, this strategy will be illustrated and put into the context of current validation systems for land remote sensing. A reinforced focus on metrology is the basic principle underlying such a strategy, since metrology provides the terminology, the framework and the best practices, allowing to tie measurements acquired from a variety of sensors to internationally agreed upon standards. From this general concept, a set of requirements are derived on how the measurements should be acquired, analysed and quality reported to users using unified procedures. This includes the need for traceability, a fully characterised uncertainty budget and adherence to community-agreed measurement protocols. These requirements have led to the development of the Fiducial Reference Measurements (FRM) concept, which is promoted by the ESA as the recommended standard within the satellite validation community. The overarching goal is to enhance user confidence in satellite-based data and characterise inter-sensor inconsistencies, starting from at-sensor radiances and paving the way to achieving the interoperability of current and future land-imaging systems.

Analyzing Satellite Ocean Color Match-Up Protocols Using the Satellite Validation Navy Tool (SAVANT) at MOBY and Two AERONET-OC Sites

The satellite validation navy tool (SAVANT) was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory to help facilitate the assessment of the stability and accuracy of ocean color satellites, using numerous ground truth (in situ) platforms around the globe and support methods for match-up protocols. The effects of varying spatial constraints with permissive and strict protocols on match-up uncertainty are evaluated, in an attempt to establish an optimal satellite ocean color calibration and validation (cal/val) match-up protocol. This allows users to evaluate the accuracy of ocean color sensors compared to specific ground truth sites that provide continuous data. Various match-up constraints may be adjusted, allowing for varied evaluations of their effects on match-up data. The results include the following: (a) the difference between aerosol robotic network ocean color (AERONET-OC) and marine optical Buoy (MOBY) evaluations; (b) the differences across the visible spectrum for various water types; (c) spatial differences and the size of satellite area chosen for comparison; and (d) temporal differences in optically complex water. The match-up uncertainty analysis was performed using Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) SNPP data at the AERONET-OC sites and the MOBY site. It was found that the more permissive constraint sets allow for a higher number of match-ups and a more comprehensive representation of the conditions, while the restrictive constraints provide better statistical match-ups between in situ and satellite sensors.

Intercomparison of arctic XH₂O observations from three ground-based Fourier transform infrared networks and application for satellite validation

In this paper, we compare column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of water vapor (XH2O) retrievals from the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) with retrievals from two co-located high-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers as references at two boreal sites, Kiruna, Sweden, and Sodankylä, Finland, from 6 March 2017 to 20 September 2019. In the framework of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), an FTIR spectrometer is operated at Kiruna. The H2O product derived from these observations has been generated with the MUlti-platform remote Sensing of Isotopologues for investigating the Cycle of Atmospheric water (MUSICA) processor. In Sodankylä, a Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) spectrometer is operated, and the official XH2O data as provided by TCCON are used for this study. The datasets are in good overall agreement, with COCCON data showing a wet bias of (49.20±58.61) ppm ((3.33±3.37) %, R2=0.9992) compared with MUSICA NDACC and (56.32±45.63) ppm ((3.44±1.77) %, R2=0.9997) compared with TCCON. Furthermore, the a priori H2O volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles (MAP) used as a priori information in the TCCON retrievals (also adopted for COCCON retrievals) are evaluated with respect to radiosonde (Vaisala RS41) profiles at Sodankylä. The MAP and radiosonde profiles show similar shapes and a good linear correlation of integrated XH2O, indicating that MAP is a reasonable approximation of the true atmospheric state and an appropriate choice for the scaling retrieval methods as applied by COCCON and TCCON. COCCON shows a reduced dry bias (−14.96 %) in comparison with TCCON (−19.08 %) with respect to radiosonde XH2O. Finally, we investigate the quality of satellite data at high latitudes. For this purpose, the COCCON XH2O is compared with retrievals from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) generated with the MUSICA processor (MUSICA IASI) and with retrievals from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). Both paired datasets generally show good agreement and similar correlations at the two sites. COCCON measures 4.64 % less XH2O at Kiruna and 3.36 % less at Sodankylä with respect to MUSICA IASI, whereas COCCON measures 9.71 % more XH2O at Kiruna and 7.75 % more at Sodankylä compared with TROPOMI. Our study supports the assumption that COCCON also delivers a well-characterized XH2O data product. This emphasizes that this approach might complement the TCCON network with respect to satellite validation efforts. This is the first published study where COCCON XH2O has been compared with MUSICA NDACC and TCCON retrievals and has been used for MUSICA IASI and TROPOMI validation.

New and improved data from the Pandonia Global Network for satellite validation

<p>The worldwide operating Pandonia Global Network (PGN) is measuring atmospheric trace gases at high temporal resolution with the purpose of air quality monitoring and satellite validation. It is an activity carried out jointly by NASA and ESA as part of their “Joint Program Planning Group Subgroup” on calibration and validation and field activities, with additional collaboration from other institutions, most notably a strongly growing participation of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The more than 50 official PGN instruments are homogeneously calibrated and their data are centrally processed in real-time. Since 2019, total NO2 column amounts from the PGN are uploaded daily to the ESA Atmospheric Validation Data Centre (EVDC), where they are used for operational validation of Sentinel 5P (S5P) retrievals. During 2020, a new processor version 1.8 has been developed, which produces improved total NO2 column amounts and also the following new PGN products: total columns of O3, SO2 and HCHO based on direct sun observations and tropospheric columns, surface concentrations and tropospheric profiles of NO2 and HCHO based on sky observations. In this presentation we show some first examples of comparisons of the new PGN products with S5P data. Compared to the total NO2 columns from the previous processor version 1.7, the 1.8 data use better estimations for the effective NO2 temperature and the air mass factor. The effect of this improvement on the comparison with S5P retrievals is shown for some remote and high-altitude PGN sites. The new PGN total O3 column algorithm also retrieves the effective O3 temperature, which is a rather unique feature for ground-based direct sun retrievals. This allows us to analyze whether potential differences to satellite O3 columns might be influenced by the O3 temperature. Including the O3 temperature in the spectral fitting has also allowed the retrieval of accurate total SO2 columns. This PGN data product is of particular interest for satellite validation, as ground-based total SO2 column amounts are hardly measured by other instrumentation. An initial comparison of the PGN SO2 columns with S5P retrievals at selected PGN sites around the world is shown. PGN total HCHO columns from direct sun measurements are now possible for those PGN instruments, where the hardware parts made of Delrin, which outgasses HCHO, have been replaced by Nylon pieces. An initial comparison to HCHO retrievals from S5P is shown for locations with these upgraded instruments. Another new feature in the 1.8 PGN data is that they come with comprehensive uncertainty estimations, separated in the output files as independent, structured, common and total uncertainty.</p>

On the use of Mobile-DOAS measurements for air quality satellite validation

<p>The TROPOMI/S5p instrument was launched in October 2017, aiming to measure from space the atmospheric composition for air quality and ozone monitoring. Since 30 April 2018, TROPOMI/S5p routinely delivers NO2 tropospheric VCDs in quasi-real-time. The first comparisons between this operational TROPOMI product and measurements from the ground and aircraft generally show good correlations but also a negative bias over polluted areas. Such a bias is expected from the low spatial resolution of the CTM used in the operational TROPOMI retrieval and several studies reported a better agreement with local measurements of NO2 VCDs when using a higher resolution model for the satellite AMFs, in practice, changing the original TM5-MP for the CAMS Ensemble. We compare mobile-DOAS measurements with the two aforementioned versions of the TROPOMI retrievals (TM5-MP and CAMS). Our Mobile-DOAS measurements were performed with the BIRA-IASB Mobile-DOAS during 19 clear sky days. We sampled polluted and clean areas during TROPOMI overpasses in Belgium and Germany between June 2018 and September 2020. Beside studying the effect of the CTM model on the comparisons, we investigate the general added-values of such mobile-DOAS measurements for the validation of TROPOMI/S5p and forthcoming missions.</p>

Comparison of a Smartfin with an Infrared Sea Surface Temperature Radiometer in the Atlantic Ocean

The accuracy and precision of satellite sea surface temperature (SST) products in nearshore coastal waters are not well known, owing to a lack of in-situ data available for validation. It has been suggested that recreational watersports enthusiasts, who immerse themselves in nearshore coastal waters, be used as a platform to improve sampling and fill this gap. One tool that has been used worldwide by surfers is the Smartfin, which contains a temperature sensor integrated into a surfboard fin. If tools such as the Smartfin are to be considered for satellite validation work, they must be carefully evaluated against state-of-the-art techniques to quantify data quality. In this study, we developed a Simple Oceanographic floating Device (SOD), designed to float on the ocean surface, and deployed it during the 28th Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT28) research cruise (September and October 2018). We attached a Smartfin to the underside of the SOD, which measured temperature at a depth of ∼0.1 m, in a manner consistent with how it collects data on a surfboard. Additional temperature sensors (an iButton and a TidbiT v2), shaded and positioned a depth of ∼1 m, were also attached to the SOD at some of the stations. Four laboratory comparisons of the SOD sensors (Smartfin, iButton and TidbiT v2) with an accurate temperature probe (±0.0043 K over a range of 273.15 to 323.15 K) were also conducted during the AMT28 voyage, over a temperature range of 290–309 K in a recirculating water bath. Mean differences (δ), referenced to the temperature probe, were removed from the iButton (δ=0.292 K) and a TidbiT v2 sensors (δ=0.089 K), but not from the Smartfin, as it was found to be in excellent agreement with the temperature probe (δ=0.005 K). The SOD was deployed for 20 min periods at 62 stations (predawn and noon) spanning 100 degrees latitude and a gradient in SST of 19 K. Simultaneous measurements of skin SST were collected using an Infrared Sea surface temperature Autonomous Radiometer (ISAR), a state-of-the-art instrument used for satellite validation. Additionally, we extracted simultaneous SST measurements, collected at slightly different depths, from an underway conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) system. Over all 62 stations, the mean difference (δ) and mean absolute difference (ϵ) between Smartfin and the underway CTD were −0.01 and 0.06 K respectively (similar results obtained from comparisons between Smartfin and iButton and Smartfin and TidbiT v2), and the δ and ϵ between Smartfin and ISAR were 0.09 and 0.12 K respectively. In both comparisons, statistics varied between noon and predawn stations, with differences related to environmental variability (wind speed and sea-air temperature differences) and depth of sampling. Our results add confidence to the use of Smartfin as a citizen science tool for evaluating satellite SST data, and data collected using the SOD and ISAR were shown to be useful for quantifying near-surface temperature gradients.