Abstract
Abstract. Vertical profiles of NO2 and NO have been obtained from solar occultation measurements by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE), using an infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and (for NO2) an ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectrometer, MAESTRO (Measurement of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation). In this paper, the quality of the ACE-FTS version 2.2 NO2 and NO and the MAESTRO version 1.2 NO2 data are assessed using other solar occultation measurements (HALOE, SAGE II, SAGE III, POAM III, SCIAMACHY), stellar occultation measurements (GOMOS), limb measurements (MIPAS, OSIRIS), nadir measurements (SCIAMACHY), balloon-borne measurements (SPIRALE, SAOZ) and ground-based measurements (UV-VIS, FTIR). Time differences between the comparison measurements were reduced using either a tight coincidence criterion, or where possible, chemical box models. ACE-FTS NO2 and NO and the MAESTRO NO2 are generally consistent with the correlative data. The ACE-FTS and MAESTRO NO2 volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles agree with the profiles from other satellite data sets to within about 20% between 25 and 40 km, with the exception of MIPAS ESA (for ACE-FTS) and SAGE II (for ACE-FTS (sunrise) and MAESTRO) and suggest a negative bias between 23 and 40 km of about 10%. MAESTRO reports larger VMR values than the ACE-FTS. In comparisons with HALOE, ACE-FTS NO VMRs typically (on average) agree to ±8% from 22 to 64 km and to +10% from 93 to 105 km, with maxima of 21% and 36%, respectively. Partial column comparisons for NO2 show that there is quite good agreement between the ACE instruments and the FTIRs, with a mean difference of +7.3% for ACE-FTS and +12.8% for MAESTRO.
Highlights
This is one of two papers describing the validation of NOy species measured by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) through comparisons with coincident measurements
Since the MAESTRO retrievals use the tangent heights retrieved for ACE-FTS and these are imported as a tangent height versus time table, this can lead to an offset of up to a few kilometers in the MAESTRO tangent heights, resulting in volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles that can be smaller or larger than those retrieved from ACE-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACEFTS) or the comparison instrument (Manney et al, 2007)
An assessment of the quality of the ACE-FTS version 2.2 NO2 and nitric oxide (NO) and MAESTRO version 1.2 NO2 data has been presented in this paper
Summary
This is one of two papers describing the validation of NOy species measured by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) through comparisons with coincident measurements. The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) detects both NOx species and is the only instrument besides ACE-FTS that is currently measuring stratospheric NO from orbit (Fischer and Oelhaf, 1996; Fischer et al, 2008). 7. The ACE satellite mission, in orbit since 12 August 2003, carries two instruments, the ACE-FTS (Bernath et al, 2005) and a dual spectrometer, MAESTRO (McElroy et al, 2007). The ACE satellite mission, in orbit since 12 August 2003, carries two instruments, the ACE-FTS (Bernath et al, 2005) and a dual spectrometer, MAESTRO (McElroy et al, 2007) Both instruments record solar occultation spectra, ACE-FTS in the infrared and MAESTRO in the UV-VIS-near-infrared, from which vertical profiles of atmospheric trace gases, temperature and aerosol extinction are retrieved. ACE-FTS NOx profiles have been used in high energy particle precipitation studies (Rinsland et al, 2005; Randall et al, 2007)
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