Estimating surface NO₂ and SO₂ mixing ratios from fast-response total column observations and potential application to geostationary missions

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s10874-013-9257-6.pdf (2.68 MB)

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https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10874-013-9257-6

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-013-9257-6
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/26749

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UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)
UMBC Faculty Collection

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Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9146-1632
 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7133-2462

Date

2013-05-25

Type of Work

journal articles
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Citation of Original Publication

Knepp, T., Pippin, M., Crawford, J. et al. Estimating surface NO₂ and SO₂ mixing ratios from fast-response total column observations and potential application to geostationary missions. J Atmos Chem 72, 261–286 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-013-9257-6

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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Abstract

Total-column nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) data collected by a ground-based sun-tracking spectrometer system (Pandora) and an photolytic-converter-based in-situ instrument collocated at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia were analyzed to study the relationship between total-column and surface NO₂ measurements. The measurements span more than a year and cover all seasons. Surface mixing ratios are estimated via application of a planetary boundary-layer (PBL) height correction factor. This PBL correction factor effectively corrects for boundary-layer variability throughout the day, and accounts for up to ≈75 % of the variability between the NO₂ data sets. Previous studies have made monthly and seasonal comparisons of column/surface data, which has shown generally good agreement over these long average times. In the current analysis comparisons of column densities averaged over 90 s and 1 h are made. Applicability of this technique to sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is briefly explored. The SO₂ correlation is improved by excluding conditions where surface levels are considered background. The analysis is extended to data from the July 2011 DISCOVER-AQ mission over the greater Baltimore, MD area to examine the method’s performance in more-polluted urban conditions where NO₂ concentrations are typically much higher.