Article (Scientific journals)
First characterization and validation of FORLI-HNO3 vertical profiles retrieved from IASI/Metop
Ronsmans, G.; Langerock, B.; Wespes, C. et al.
2016In Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 16, p. 4783-4801
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Keywords :
atmospheric monitoring; remote-sensing; nitric acid
Abstract :
[en] Knowing the spatial and seasonal distributions of nitric acid (HNO3) around the globe is of great interest to apprehend the processes regulating stratospheric ozone, especially in the polar regions. Thanks to its unprecedented spatial and temporal sampling, the nadir-viewing Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) allows sounding the atmosphere twice a day globally, with good spectral resolution and low noise. With the Fast Optimal Retrievals on Layers for IASI (FORLI) algorithm, we are retrieving, in near-real time, columns as well as vertical profiles of several atmospheric species, amongst which is HNO3. We present in this paper the first characterization of the FORLI-HNO3 profile products, in terms of vertical sensitivity and error budgets. We show that the sensitivity of IASI to HNO3 is highest in the lower stratosphere (10–20km), where the largest amounts of HNO3 are found, but that the vertical sensitivity of IASI only allows one level of information on the profile (DOFS 1). The sensitivity near the surface is negligible in most cases, and for this reason, a partial column (5–35km) is used for the analyses. Both vertical profiles and partial columns are compared to FTIR ground-based measurements from the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) to characterize the accuracy and precision of the FORLI-HNO3 product. The profile validation is conducted through the smoothing of the raw FTIR profiles by the IASI averaging kernels and gives good results, with a slight overestimation of IASI measurements in the Upper Troposphere-Lower Stratosphere (UTLS) at the 6 chosen stations (Thule, Kiruna, Jungfraujoch, Izaña, Lauder and Arrival Heights). The validation of the partial columns (5–35km) is also conclusive with a mean correlation of 0.93 between IASI and the FTIR measurements. An initial survey of the HNO3 spatial and seasonal variabilities obtained from IASI measurements for a one year (2011) data set shows that the expected latitudinal gradient of concentrations from low to high latitudes and the large seasonal variability in polar regions (cycle amplitude around 30% of the seasonal signal, peak-to-peak) are well represented with IASI data.
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Ronsmans, G.
Langerock, B.
Wespes, C.
Hannigan, J. W.
Hase, F.
Kerzenmacher, T.
Mahieu, Emmanuel  ;  Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Groupe infra-rouge de phys. atmosph. et solaire (GIRPAS)
Schneider, M.
Smale, D.
Hurtmans, D.
De Mazière, M.
Clerbaux, C.
Coheur, P.-F.
More authors (3 more) Less
Language :
English
Title :
First characterization and validation of FORLI-HNO3 vertical profiles retrieved from IASI/Metop
Publication date :
27 September 2016
Journal title :
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
ISSN :
1867-1381
eISSN :
1867-8548
Publisher :
Copernicus, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Volume :
16
Pages :
4783-4801
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 06 July 2016

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