Effects of local meteorology and aerosols on ozone and nitrogen dioxide retrievals from OMI and pandora spectrometers in Maryland, USA during DISCOVER-AQ 2011
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Date
2013-04-19
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Citation of Original Publication
Reed, A.J., Thompson, A.M., Kollonige, D.E. et al. "Effects of local meteorology and aerosols on ozone and nitrogen dioxide retrievals from OMI and pandora spectrometers in Maryland, USA during DISCOVER-AQ 2011" J Atmos Chem 72, (September 2015): 455–482. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-013-9254-9.
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Abstract
An analysis is presented for both ground- and satellite-based retrievals of total
column ozone and nitrogen dioxide levels from the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore,
Maryland, metropolitan area during the NASA-sponsored July 2011 campaign of Deriving
Information on Surface COnditions from Column and VERtically Resolved Observations
Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ). Satellite retrievals of total column ozone and
nitrogen dioxide from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite are
used, while Pandora spectrometers provide total column ozone and nitrogen dioxide amounts from the ground. We found that OMI and Pandora agree well (residuals within
±25 % for nitrogen dioxide, and ±4.5 % for ozone) for a majority of coincident observations
during July 2011. Comparisons with surface nitrogen dioxide from a Teledyne API 200 EU
NOx Analyzer showed nitrogen dioxide diurnal variability that was consistent with measurements by Pandora. However, the wide OMI field of view, clouds, and aerosols affected
retrievals on certain days, resulting in differences between Pandora and OMI of up to ±65 %
for total column nitrogen dioxide, and ±23 % for total column ozone. As expected,
significant cloud cover (cloud fraction >0.2) was the most important parameter affecting
comparisons of ozone retrievals; however, small, passing cumulus clouds that do not
coincide with a high (>0.2) cloud fraction, or low aerosol layers which cause significant
backscatter near the ground affected the comparisons of total column nitrogen dioxide
retrievals. Our results will impact post-processing satellite retrieval algorithms and quality
control procedures.