ALBERT

Description: Potential of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor for the monitoring of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 7, 12545-12588, 2014 Author(s): L. Guanter, I. Aben, P. Tol, J. M. Krijger, A. Hollstein, P. Köhler, A. Damm, J. Joiner, C. Frankenberg, and J. Landgraf Global monitoring of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) can improve our knowledge about the photosynthetic functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The feasibility of SIF retrievals from spaceborne atmospheric spectrometers has been demonstrated by a number of studies in the last years. In this work, we investigate the potential of the upcoming TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite mission for SIF retrieval. TROPOMI will sample the 675–775 nm spectral window with a spectral resolution of 0.5 nm and a pixel size of 7 km × 7 km. We use an extensive set of simulated TROPOMI data in order to assess the uncertainty of single SIF retrievals and subsequent spatio-temporal composites. Our results illustrate the enormous improvement in SIF monitoring achievable with TROPOMI with respect to comparable spectrometers currently in-flight, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instrument. We find that TROPOMI can reduce global uncertainties in SIF mapping by more than a factor 2 with respect to GOME-2, which comes together with an about 5-fold improvement in spatial sampling. Finally, we discuss the potential of TROPOMI to accurately map other important vegetation parameters, such as leaf photosynthetic pigments and proxies for canopy structure, which will complement SIF retrievals for a self-contained description of vegetation condition and functioning.

Description: The Level 2 research product algorithms for the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3593-3645, 2011 Author(s): P. Baron, J. Urban, H. Sagawa, J. Möller, D. P. Murtagh, J. Mendrok, E. Dupuy, T. O. Sato, S. Ochiai, K. Suzuki, T. Manabe, T. Nishibori, K. Kikuchi, R. Sato, M. Takayanagi, Y. Murayama, M. Shiotani, and Y. Kasai This paper describes the algorithms of the level-2 research (L2r) processing chain developed for the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES). The chain has been developed in parallel to the operational chain for conducting researches on calibration and retrieval algorithms. L2r chain products are available to the scientific community. The objective of version 2 is the retrieval of the vertical distribution of trace gases in the altitude range of 18–90 km. An theoretical error analysis is conducted to estimate the retrieval feasibility of key parameters of the processing: line-of-sight elevation tangent altitudes (or angles), temperature and O 3 profiles. The line-of-sight tangent altitudes are retrieved between 20 and 50 km from the strong ozone (O 3 ) line at 625.371 GHz, with low correlation with the O 3 volume-mixing ratio and temperature retrieved profiles. Neglecting the non-linearity of the radiometric gain in the calibration procedure is the main systematic error. It is large for the retrieved temperature (between 5–10 K). Therefore, atmospheric pressure can not be derived from the retrieved temperature, and, then, in the altitude range where the line-of-sight tangent altitudes are retrieved, the retrieved trace gases profiles are found to be better represented on pressure levels than on altitude levels. The error analysis for the retrieved HOCl profile demonstrates that best results for inverting weak lines can be obtained by using narrow spectral windows. Future versions of the L2r algorithms will improve the temperature/pressure retrievals and also provide information in the upper tropospheric/lower stratospheric region (e.g., water vapor, ice content, O 3 ) and on stratospheric and mesospheric line-of-sight winds.

Description: Near infrared nadir sounding of vertical column densities: methodology and application to SCIAMACHY Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3685-3737, 2011 Author(s): S. Gimeno García, F. Schreier, G. Lichtenberg, and S. Slijkhuis Nadir observations with the shortwave infrared channels of SCIAMACHY onboard the ENVISAT satellite can be used to derive information on atmospheric gases such as CO, CH 4 , N 2 O, CO 2 , and H 2 O. For the operational level 1b–2 processing of SCIAMACHY data a new retrieval code BIRRA (Beer InfraRed Retrieval Algorithm) has been developed: BIRRA performs a nonlinear least squares fit of the measured radiance, where molecular concentration vertical profiles are scaled to fit the observed data. Here we present the forward modeling (radiative transfer) and inversion (least squares optimization) fundamentals of the code along with the further processing steps required to generate higher level products such as global distributions and time series. Moreover, various aspects of level 1 (observed spectra) and auxiliary input data relevant for successful retrievals are discussed. BIRRA is currently used for operational analysis of carbon monoxide vertical column densities from SCIAMACHY channel 8 observations, and is being prepared for methane retrievals using channel 6 spectra. A set of representative CO retrievals and first CH 4 results are presented to demonstrate BIRRA's capabilities.

Description: Volatilizable biogenic organic compounds (VBOCs) with two dimensional gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS): sampling methods, VBOC complexity, and chromatographic retention data Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3647-3684, 2011 Author(s): J. F. Pankow, W. Luo, A. N. Melnychenko, K. C. Barsanti, L. M. Isabelle, C. Chen, A. B. Guenther, and T. N. Rosenstiel Two dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) with detection by time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) was applied in the rapid analysis of air samples containing highly complex mixtures of volatilizable biogenic organic compounds (VBOCs). VBOC analytical methodologies are briefly reviewed, and optimal conditions are discussed for sampling with both adsorption/thermal desorption (ATD) cartridges and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibers. Air samples containing VBOC emissions from leaves of two tree species ( Cedrus atlantica and Calycolpus moritzianus ) were obtained by both ATD and SPME. The optimized gas chromatographic conditions utilized a 45 m, 0.25 mm I.D. low-polarity primary column (DB-VRX, 1.4 μm film) and a 1.5 m, 0.25 mm I.D. polar secondary column (Stabilwax® 0.25 μm film). Excellent separation was achieved in a 36 min temperature programmed GC × GC chromatogram. Thousands of VBOC peaks were present in the sample chromatograms; hundreds of tentative identifications by NIST mass spectral matching are provided. Very few of the tentatively identified compounds are currently available as authentic standards. Method detection limit values for a 5 l ATD sample were 3.5 pptv (10 ng m −3 ) for isoprene, methyl vinyl ketone, and methacrolein, and ~1.5 pptv (~10 ng m −3 ) for monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. Kovats-type chromatographic retention index values on the primary column and relative retention time values on the secondary column are provided for 21 standard compounds and for 417 tentatively identified VBOCs. 19 of the 21 authentic standard compounds were found in one of the Cedrus atlantica SPME samples. In addition, easily quantifiable levels of at least 13 sesquiterpenes were found in an ATD sample obtained from a branch enclosure of Calycolpus moritzianus . Overall, the results obtained via GC × GC-TOFMS highlight an extreme, and largely uncharacterized diversity of VBOCs, consistent with the hypothesis that sesquiterpenes and other compounds beyond the current list of typically determined VBOC analytes may well be important contributors to global atmospheric levels of organic particulate matter.

Description: Correcting orbital drift signal in the time series of AVHRR derived convective cloud fraction using rotated empirical orthogonal function Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3877-3890, 2011 Author(s): A. Devasthale, K. Karlsson, J. Quaas, and H. Grassl The AVHRRs instruments onboard the series of NOAA satellites offer the longest available meteorological data records from space. These satellites have drifted in orbit resulting in shifts in the local time sampling during the life span of sensors onboard. Depending on the amplitude of a diurnal cycle of the geophysical parameters derived, orbital drift may cause spurious trends in their time series. We investigate tropical deep convective clouds, which show pronounced diurnal cycle amplitude, to bracket an upper bound of the impact of orbital drift on their time series. We carry out a rotated empirical orthogonal function analysis and show that the REOFs are useful in delineating orbital drift signal and, more importantly, in correcting this signal in the time series of convective cloud amount. These results will help facilitate the derivation of homogenized data series of cloud amount from NOAA satellite sensors and ultimately analyzing trends from them. However, we suggest detailed comparison of various methods and their rigorous testing before applying final orbital drift corrections.

Description: Sensitivity studies for a space-based methane lidar mission Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3545-3592, 2011 Author(s): C. Kiemle, M. Quatrevalet, G. Ehret, A. Amediek, A. Fix, and M. Wirth Methane is the third most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere after water vapour and carbon dioxide. A major handicap to quantify the emissions at the Earth's surface in order to better understand biosphere-atmosphere exchange processes and potential climate feedbacks is the lack of accurate and global observations of methane. Space-based integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar has potential to fill this gap, and a Methane Remote Lidar Mission (MERLIN) on a small satellite in Polar orbit was proposed by DLR and CNES in the frame of a German-French climate monitoring initiative. System simulations are used to identify key performance parameters and to find an advantageous instrument configuration, given the environmental, technological, and budget constraints. The sensitivity studies use representative averages of the atmospheric and surface state to estimate the measurement precision, i.e. the random uncertainty due to instrument noise. Key performance parameters for MERLIN are average laser power, telescope size, orbit height, surface reflectance, and detector noise. A modest-size lidar instrument with 0.45 W average laser power and 0.55 m telescope diameter on a 506 km orbit could provide 50-km averaged methane column measurement along the sub-satellite track with a precision of about 1 % over vegetation. The use of a methane absorption trough at 1.65 μm improves the near-surface measurement sensitivity and vastly relaxes the wavelength stability requirement that was identified as one of the major technological risks in the pre-phase A studies for A-SCOPE, a space-based IPDA lidar for carbon dioxide at the European Space Agency. Minimal humidity and temperature sensitivity at this wavelength position will enable accurate measurements in tropical wetlands, key regions with largely uncertain methane emissions. In contrast to actual passive remote sensors, measurements in Polar Regions will be possible and biases due to aerosol layers and thin ice clouds will be minimised.

Description: Information operator approach applied to the retrieval of the vertical distribution of atmospheric constituents from ground-based high-resolution FTIR measurements Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3739-3785, 2011 Author(s): C. Senten, M. De Mazière, G. Vanhaelewyn, and C. Vigouroux The analysis of high spectral resolution Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) solar absorption spectra is an important issue in remote sensing. If this is done carefully, one can obtain information, not only about the total column abundances, but also about the vertical distribution of various constituents in the atmosphere. This work introduces the application of the information operator approach for extracting vertical profile information from ground-based FTIR measurements. The algorithm is implemented and tested within the well-known retrieval code SFIT2, adapting the optimal estimation method such as to take into account only the significant contributions to the solution. In particular, we demonstrate the feasibility of the method in an application to ground-based FTIR spectra taken in the frame of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) at Ile de La Réunion (21° S, 55° E). A thorough comparison is made between the original optimal estimation method and this alternative retrieval algorithm, regarding information content, retrieval robustness and corresponding full error budget evaluation for the target species ozone (O 3 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O), methane (CH 4 ), and carbon monoxide (CO). For O 3 and CH 4 , a comparison with the Tikhonov regularization method has also been made. It is shown that the information operator approach performs well and in most cases yields both a better accuracy and stability than the optimal estimation method. Additionally, the information operator approach has the advantage of being less sensitive to the choice of a priori information. The Tikhonov regularization results seem to be situated between both methods' results, as to profile retrievals, error budgets and column stability.

Description: Opportunistic validation of sulfur dioxide in the Sarychev Peak volcanic eruption cloud Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3861-3875, 2011 Author(s): S. A. Carn and T. M. Lopez We report attempted validation of Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) retrievals in the stratospheric volcanic cloud from Sarychev Peak (Kurile Islands) in June 2009, through opportunistic deployment of a ground-based ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer (FLYSPEC) as the volcanic cloud drifted over Central Alaska. The volcanic cloud altitude (~12–14 km) was constrained using coincident CALIPSO lidar observations. By invoking some assumptions about the spatial distribution of SO 2 , we derive averages of FLYSPEC vertical SO 2 columns for comparison with OMI SO 2 measurements. Despite limited data, we find minimum OMI-FLYSPEC differences of ~5–6 % which support the validity of the operational OMI SO 2 algorithm. These measurements represent the first attempt to validate SO 2 in a stratospheric volcanic cloud using a mobile ground-based instrument, and demonstrate the need for a network of rapidly deployable instruments for validation of space-based volcanic SO 2 measurements.

Description: Inversion of tropospheric profiles of aerosol extinction and HCHO and NO 2 mixing ratios from MAX-DOAS observations in Milano during the summer of 2003 and comparison with independent data sets Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3891-3964, 2011 Author(s): T. Wagner, S. Beirle, T. Brauers, T. Deutschmann, U. Frieß, C. Hak, J. D. Halla, K. P. Heue, W. Junkermann, X. Li, U. Platt, and I. Pundt-Gruber We present aerosol and trace gas profiles derived from MAX-DOAS observations. Our inversion scheme is based on simple profile parameterisations used as input for an atmospheric radiative transfer model (forward model). From a least squares fit of the forward model to the MAX-DOAS measurements, two profile parameters are retrieved including integrated quantities (aerosol optical depth or trace gas vertical column density), and parameters describing the height and shape of the respective profiles. From these results, the aerosol extinction and trace gas mixing ratios can also be calculated. We apply the profile inversion to MAX-DOAS observations during a measurement campaign in Milano, Italy, September 2003, which allowed simultaneous observations from three telescopes (directed to north, west, south). Profile inversions for aerosols and trace gases were possible on 23 days. Especially in the middle of the campaign (17–20 September 2003), enhanced values of aerosol optical depth and NO 2 and HCHO mixing ratios were found. The retrieved layer heights were typically similar for HCHO and aerosols. For NO 2 , lower layer heights were found, which increased during the day. The MAX-DOAS inversion results are compared to independent measurements: (1) aerosol optical depth measured at an AERONET station at Ispra; (2) near-surface NO 2 and HCHO (formaldehyde) mixing ratios measured by long path DOAS and Hantzsch instruments at Bresso; (3) vertical profiles of HCHO and aerosols measured by an ultra light aircraft. Depending on the viewing direction, the aerosol optical depths from MAX-DOAS are either smaller or larger than those from AERONET observations. Similar comparison results are found for the MAX-DOAS NO 2 mixing ratios versus long path DOAS measurements. In contrast, the MAX-DOAS HCHO mixing ratios are generally higher than those from long path DOAS or Hantzsch instruments. The comparison of the HCHO and aerosol profiles from the aircraft showed reasonable agreement with the respective MAX-DOAS layer heights. From the comparison of the results for the different telescopes, it was possible to investigate the internal consistency of the MAX-DOAS observations. As part of our study, a cloud classification algorithm was developed (based on the MAX-DOAS zenith viewing directions), and the effects of clouds on the profile inversion were investigated. Different effects of clouds on aerosols and trace gas retrievals were found: while the aerosol optical depth is systematically underestimated and the HCHO mixing ratio is systematically overestimated under cloudy conditions, the NO 2 mixing ratios are only slightly affected. These findings are in basic agreement with radiative transfer simulations.

Description: Modeling the ascent of sounding balloons: derivation of the vertical air motion Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 4, 3965-4012, 2011 Author(s): A. Gallice, F. G. Wienhold, C. R. Hoyle, F. Immler, and T. Peter A new model to describe the ascent of sounding balloons in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (up to ~30–35 km altitude) is presented. Contrary to previous models, detailed account is taken of both the variation of the drag coefficient with altitude and the heat imbalance between the balloon and the atmosphere. To compensate for the lack of data on the drag coefficient of sounding balloons, a reference curve for the relationship between drag coefficient and Reynolds number is derived from a dataset of flights launched during the Lindenberg Upper Air Methods Intercomparisons (LUAMI) campaign. The transfer of heat from the surrounding air into the balloon is accounted for by solving the radial heat diffusion equation inside the balloon. The potential applications of the model include the forecast of the trajectory of sounding balloons, which can be used to increase the accuracy of the match technique, and the derivation of the air vertical velocity. The latter is obtained by subtracting the ascent rate of the balloon in still air calculated by the model from the actual ascent rate. This technique is shown to provide an approximation for the vertical air motion with an uncertainty error of 0.5 m s −1 in the troposphere and 0.2 m s −1 in the stratosphere. An example of extraction of the air vertical velocity is provided in this paper. We show that the air vertical velocities derived from the balloon soundings in this paper are in general agreement with small-scale atmospheric velocity fluctuations related to gravity waves, mechanical turbulence, or other small-scale air motions measured during the SUCCESS campaign (Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study) in the orographically unperturbed mid-latitude middle troposphere.