Ozone correlations between mid-tropospheric partial columns and the near-surface at two mid-atlantic sites during the DISCOVER-AQ campaign in July 2011

Abstract

The current network of ground-based monitors for ozone (O₃) is limited due to the spatial heterogeneity of O₃ at the surface. Satellite measurements can provide a solution to this limitation, but the lack of sensitivity of satellites to O₃ within the boundary layer causes large uncertainties in satellite retrievals at the near-surface. The vertical variability of O₃ was investigated using ozonesondes collected as part of NASA’s Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from COlumn and VERtically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) campaign during July 2011 in the Baltimore, MD/Washington D.C. metropolitan area. A subset of the ozonesonde measurements was corrected for a known bias from the electrochemical solution strength using new procedures based on laboratory and field tests. A significant correlation of O₃ over the two sites with ozonesonde measurements (Edgewood and Beltsville, MD) was observed between the mid-troposphere (7–10 km) and the near-surface (1–3 km). A linear regression model based on the partial column amounts of O₃ within these subregions was developed to calculate the near-surface O₃ using mid-tropospheric satellite measurements from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) onboard the Aura spacecraft. The uncertainties of the calculated near-surface O₃ using TES mid-tropospheric satellite retrievals and a linear regression model were less than 20 %, which is less than that of the observed variability of O₃ at the surface in this region. These results utilize a region of the troposphere to which existing satellites are more sensitive compared to the boundary layer and can provide information of O₃ at the near-surface using existing satellite infrastructure and algorithms.