Cloud property retrieval based on DISAMAR: implications of differences between Oxygen-A and Oxygen-B band data from TROPOMI on Sentinel 5P

Abstract

DISAMAR (determining instrument specifications and analysing methods for atmospheric retrieval) is a computer model developed to simulate the retrieval of properties of atmospheric trace gases, aerosols, clouds, and the ground surface from passive remote sensing observations in a wavelength range from 270 to 2400 nm. It is being used for the TROPOMI/Sentinel-5P and Sentinel-4/5 missions to derive Level-1b product specifications. It is also used  in some research to obtain aerosol and trace gas properties, but its application to cloud properties retrieval is limited. This study presents the retrieval of cloud pressure and cloud optical thickness as well as surface pressure for cloud free based on TROPOMI Oxygen-A (Band 6) and Oxygen-B (Band 5) band measurements, and compares the results with FRESCO and NPP-Suomi Level 2 cloud property data. Different cross section datasets including JPL2008, HITRAN 2008 and HITRAN2020 are also tested in this study. In conclusion, for surface pressure retrieval, using O2-A band gives more reliable results than O2-B band and is easier to converge in the calculation, especially over land surface. But while over sea surface, using O2-B band in retrieval performs better than O2-A band. Secondly, the retrieval based on the cross section file JPL2008 shows better results when using O2-A band, but HITRAN2020 gives better results when using O2-B band. Thirdly, setting appropriate a-priory value in DISAMAR and removing some of the wavelengths with high residual simulated reflectivity can significantly improve the results , both in terms of convergence and reduction of validation error. The cloud pressure correlation coefficient between the retrieval and NPP or FRESCO data is 0.85 and 0.99 respectively, while the cloud optical thickness has a correlation coefficient of 0.77 between retrieval and NPP COT datasets.