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An evaluation of IASI-NH3 with ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements

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posted on 2024-11-16, 03:53 authored by Enrico Dammers, Mathias Palm, Martin Van Damme, C Vigouroux, D Smale, Stephanie Conway, Geoffrey Toon, Nicholas JonesNicholas Jones, Eric Nussbaumer, Thorsten Warneke, Christof Petri, Lieven Clarisse, Cathy Clerbaux, Christian Hermans, Erik Lutsch, Kimberly Strong, James W Hannigan, Hideaki Nakajima, Isamu Morino, Beatriz Herrera, Wolfgang Stremme, Michel Grutter, Martijn Schaap, Roy J Wichink Kruit, Justus Notholt, P F Coheur, Jan Willem Erisman
Global distributions of atmospheric ammonia (NH3) measured with satellite instruments such as the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) contain valuable information on NH3 concentrations and variability in regions not yet covered by ground-based instruments. Due to their large spatial coverage and (bi-)daily overpasses, the satellite observations have the potential to increase our knowledge of the distribution of NH3 emissions and associated seasonal cycles. However the observations remain poorly validated, with only a handful of available studies often using only surface measurements without any vertical information. In this study, we present the first validation of the IASI-NH3 product using ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) observations. Using a recently developed consistent retrieval strategy, NH3 concentration profiles have been retrieved using observations from nine Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) stations around the world between 2008 and 2015. We demonstrate the importance of strict spatio-temporal collocation criteria for the comparison. Large differences in the regression results are observed for changing intervals of spatial criteria, mostly due to terrain characteristics and the short lifetime of NH3 in the atmosphere. The seasonal variations of both datasets are consistent for most sites. Correlations are found to be high at sites in areas with considerable NH3 levels, whereas correlations are lower at sites with low atmospheric NH3 levels close to the detection limit of the IASI instrument. A combination of the observations from all sites (Nobs = 547) give a mean relative difference of −32.4 ± (56.3) %, a correlation r of 0.8 with a slope of 0.73. These results give an improved estimate of the IASI-NH3 product performance compared to the previous upper-bound estimates (−50 to +100 %).

Funding

Tropospheric ozone and air quality in Australia

Australian Research Council

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High resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometer for atmospheric remote sensing and laboratory spectroscopy

Australian Research Council

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History

Citation

Dammers, E., Palm, M., Van Damme, M., Vigouroux, C., Smale, D., Conway, S., Toon, G. C., Jones, N., Nussbaumer, E., Warneke, T., Petri, C., Clarisse, L., Clerbaux, C., Hermans, C., Lutsch, E., Strong, K., Hannigan, J. W., Nakajima, H., Morino, I., Herrera, B., Stremme, W., Grutter, M., Schaap, M., Kruit, R. J. Wichink., Notholt, J., Coheur, P. -F.. & Erisman, J. Willem. (2016). An evaluation of IASI-NH3 with ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16 (16), 10351-10368.

Journal title

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Volume

16

Issue

16

Pagination

10351-10368

Language

English

RIS ID

109339

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