References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-8-6577-2008

Validation of OMI tropospheric NO2 column data using MAX-DOAS measurements deep inside the North China Plain in June 2006: Mount Tai Experiment 2006

Irie

¹ Kanaya

¹ Akimoto

¹ Tanimoto

² Wang

³ Gleason

J. F.

⁴ Bucsela

E. J.

⁵

Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001, Japan

National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan

LAPC/NZC, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771-0000, USA

SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94107, USA

17 11 2008

8 22 6577 6586

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6577/2008/acp-8-6577-2008.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6577/2008/acp-8-6577-2008.pdf

A challenge for the quantitative analysis of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) column data from satellite observations is posed partly by the lack of satellite-independent observations for validation. We performed such observations of the tropospheric NO2 column using the ground-based Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) technique in the North China Plain (NCP) from 29 May to 29 June, 2006. Comparisons between tropospheric NO2 columns measured by MAX-DOAS and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard the Aura satellite indicate that OMI data (the standard product, version 3) over NCP may have a positive bias of 1.6×1015 molecules cm−2 (20%), yet within the uncertainty of the OMI data. Combining these results with literature validation results for the US, Europe, and Pacific Ocean suggests that a bias of +20%/−30% is a reasonable estimate, accounting for different regions.

References 1

Boersma, K. F., Eskes, H. J., and Brinksma, E. J.: Error analysis for tropospheric NO2 retrieval from space, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D04311, doi:10.1029/2003JD003962, 2004.

Boersma, K. F., Jacob, D. J., Eskes, H. J., Pinder, R. W., Wang, J., and van der A, R. J.: Intercomparison of SCIAMACHY and OMI tropospheric NO2 columns: Observing the diurnal evolution of chemistry and emissions from space, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D16S26, doi:10.1029/2007JD008816, 2008.

Brinksma, E. J., Pinardi, G., Braak, R., Volten, H., Richter, A., Schönhardt, A., van Roozendael, M., Fayt, C., Hermans, C., Dirksen, R. J., Vlemmix, T., Berkhout, A. J. C., Swart, D. P. J., Oetjen, H., Wittrock, F., Wagner, T., Ibrahim, O. W., de Leeuw, G., Moerman, M., Curier, R. L., Celarier, E. A., Knap, W. H., Veefkind, J. P., Eskes, H. J., Allaart, M., Rothe, R., Piters, A. J. M., and Levelt, P. F.: The 2005 and 2006 DANDELIONS NO2 and aerosol validation campaigns, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D16S46, doi:10.1029/2007JD008808, 2008.

Bucsela, E. J., Celarier, E. A., Wenig, M. O., Gleason, J. F., Veefkind, J. P., Boersma, K. F., and Brinksma, E.: Algorithm for NO2 vertical column retrieval from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 44, 5, 1–14, 2006.

Bucsela, E. J., Perring, A. E., Cohen, R. C., Boersma, K. F., Celarier, E. A., Gleason, J. F., Wenig, M. O., Bertram, T. H., Wooldridge, P. J., Dirksen, R., and Veefkind, J. P., Comparison of tropospheric NO2 from in situ aircraft measurements with near-real-time and standard product data from OMI, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D16S31, doi:10.1029/2007JD008838, 2008.

Celarier, E. A., Brinksma, E. J., Gleason, J. F., Veefkind, J. P., Cede, A., Herman, J. R., Ionov, D., Goutail, F., Pommereau, J. -P., Lambert, J. -C., van Roozendael, M., Pinardi, G., Wittrock, F., Schönhardt, Richter, A., Ibrahim, O. W., Wagner T., Bojkov, B., Mount, G., Spinei, E., Chen, C. M., Pongetti, T. J., Sander, S. P., Bucsela, E. J., Wenig, M. O., Swart, D. P. J., Volten, H., Kroon, M., and Levelt, P. F.: Validation of Ozone Monitoring Instrument nitrogen dioxide columns, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D15S15, doi:10.1029/2007JD008908, 2008.

Frieß, U., Monks, P.S., Remedios, J. J., Rozanov, A., Sinreich, R., Wagner, T., and Platt, U.: MAX-DOAS O4 measurements: A new technique to derive information on atmospheric aerosols: 2. Modeling studies, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D14203, doi:10.1029/2005JD006618, 2006.

Fu, T. -M., Jacob, D. J., Palmer, P. I., Chance, K., Wang, Y. X., Barletta, B., Blake, D. R., Stanton, J. C., and Pilling, M. J.: Space-based formaldehyde measurements as constraints on volatile organic compound emissions in east and south Asia and implications for ozone, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D06312, doi:10.1029/2006JD007853, 2007.

Hönninger, G., von Friedeburg, C., and Platt, U.: Multi axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 231–254, 2004.

Inomata, S., Tanimoto, H., Kameyama, S., Tsunogai, U., Irie, H., Kanaya, Y., and Wang, Z.: Technical Note: Determination of formaldehyde mixing ratios in air with PTR-MS: laboratory experiments and field measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 273–284, 2008.

Irie, H., Sudo, K., Akimoto, H., Richter, A., Burrows, J. P., Wagner, T., Wenig, M., Beirle, S., Kondo, Y., Sinyakov, V. P., and Goutail, F.: Evaluation of long-term tropospheric NO2 data obtained by GOME over East Asia in 1996–2002, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L11810, doi:10.1029/2005GL022770, 2005.

Irie, H., Kanaya, Y., Akimoto, H., Iwabuchi, H., Shimizu, A., and Aoki, K.: First retrieval of tropospheric aerosol profiles using MAX-DOAS and comparison with lidar and sky radiometer measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 341–350, 2008.

Iwabuchi, H.: Efficient Monte Carlo methods for radiative transfer modeling, J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 9, 2324–2339, 2006.

Jacobson, M. Z.: Fundamentals of atmospheric modeling, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Kurucz, R. L., Furenlid, I., Brault, J., and Testerman, L.: Solar flux atlas from 296 to 1300 nm, Natl. Sol. Obs., Sunspot, New Mexico, 240 pp., 1984.

Lamsal, L. N., Martin, R. V., van Donkelaar, A., Steinbacher, M., Celarier, E. A., Bucsela, E., Dunlea, E. J., and Pinto, J. P.: Ground-level nitrogen dioxide concentrations inferred from the satellite-borne Ozone Monitoring Instrument, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D16308, doi:10.1029/2007JD009235, 2008.

Levelt, P. F., van den Oord, G. H. J., Dobber, M. R., Mälkki, A., Visser, H., de Vries, J., Stammes, P., Lundell, J. O. V., and Saari, H.: The Ozone Monitoring Instrument, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 44, 5, 1093–1101, 2006.

Marchuk, G., Mikhailov, G., Nazaraliev, M., Darbinjan, R., Kargin, B., and Elepov, B.: The Monte Carlo Methods in Atmospheric Optics, Springer-Verlag Berlin, 208 pp., 1980.

Remer, L. A., Kaufman, Y. J., Tanré, D., Mattoo, S., Chu, D. A., Martins, J. V., Li, R. -R., Ichoku, C., Levy, R. C., Kleidman, R. G., Eck, T. F., Vermote, E., and Holben, B. N.: The MODIS aerosol algorithm, products, and validation, J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 947–973, doi:10.1175/JAS3385.1, 2005.

Richter, A., Burrows, J. P., Nüß, H., Granier, C., and Niemeier, U.: Increase in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide over China observed from space, Nature, 437, 129–132, doi:10.1038/nature04092, 2005.

Rodgers, C. D.: Inverse methods for atmospheric sounding: Theory and practice, Ser. Atmos. Oceanic Planet. Phys., 2, edited by: F. W. Taylor, World Sci., Hackensack, N. J., 2000.

van der A, R. J., Peters, D. H. M. U., Eskes, H., Boersma, K. F., van Roozendael, M., de Smedt, I., and Kelder, H. M.: Detection of the trend and seasonal variation in tropospheric NO2 over China, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D12317, doi:10.1029/2005JD006594, 2006.

van Noije, T. P. C., Eskes, H. J., Dentener, F. J., Stevenson, D. S., Ellingsen, K., Schultz, M. G., Wild, O., Amann, M., Atherton, C. S., Bergmann, D. J., Bey, I., Boersma, K. F., Butler, T., Cofala, J., Drevet, J., Fiore, A. M., Gauss, M., Hauglustaine, D. A., Horowitz, L. W., Isaksen, I. S. A., Krol, M. C., Lamarque, J.-F., Lawrence, M. G., Martin, R. V., Montanaro, V., Müller, J.-F., Pitari, G., Prather, M. J., Pyle, J. A., Richter, A., Rodriguez, J. M., Savage, N. H., Strahan, S. E., Sudo, K., Szopa, S., and van Roozendael, M.: Multi-model ensemble simulations of tropospheric NO2 compared with GOME retrievals for the year 2000, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 2943–2979, 2006.

Wagner, T., Burrows, J. P., Deutschmann, T., Dix, B., von Friedeburg, C., Frie�, U., Hendrick, F., Heue, K.-P., Irie, H., Iwabuchi, H., Kanaya, Y., Keller, J., McLinden, C. A., Oetjen, H., Palazzi, E., Petritoli, A., Platt, U., Postylyakov, O., Pukite, J., Richter, A., van Roozendael, M., Rozanov, A., Rozanov, V., Sinreich, R., Sanghavi, S., and Wittrock, F.: Comparison of box-air-mass-factors and radiances for Multiple-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) geometries calculated from different UV/visible radiative transfer models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 1809–1833, 2007.