The sensitivity study of NO2 vertical profile retrieval by airborne platform

Abstract

The retrieval sensitivity of NO2 profile based on airborne muti-axis observation is studied, and the influences of different wavelengths, different view angles, different surface albedos, different aerosol modes, and different altitude are evaluated by calculating the weighting function and average kernels. The results show that higher vertical resolution is obtained at 370 nm than at 500 nm for averaging kernels, more conducive to profile retrieval; not too much profile information is found in upper view angles, while more profile information is achieved in downward looking angles; surface albedos have no obvious influence on profile retrieval; high aerosol mode increases the sensitivity of profile retrieval; the averaging kernels at low flight attitude have no obvious differences in different altitudes, nor are they conducive to the profile retrieval.