Validation of MOPITT carbon monoxide using ground-based Four

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TitleValidation of MOPITT carbon monoxide using ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectrometer data from NDACCAbstractThe Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instrument provides the longest continuous dataset of carbon monoxide (CO) from space. We perform the first validation of MOPITT version 6 retrievals using total column CO measurements from ground-based remote-sensing Fourier transform infrared spectrometers (FTSs). Validation uses data recorded at 14 stations, that span a wide range of latitudes (80° N to 78° S), in the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). MOPITT measurements are spatially co-located with each station, and different vertical sensitivities between instruments are accounted for by using MOPITT averaging kernels (AKs). All three MOPITT retrieval types are analyzed: thermal infrared (TIR-only), joint thermal and near infrared (TIR-NIR), and near infrared (NIR-only). Generally, MOPITT measurements overestimate CO relative to FTS measurements, but the bias is typically less than 10 %. Mean bias is 2.4 % for TIR-only, 5.1 % for TIR-NIR, and 6.5 % for NIR-only. The TIR-NIR and NIR-only products consistently produce a larger bias and lower correlation than the TIR-only. Validation performance of MOPITT for TIR-only and TIR-NIR retrievals over land or water scenes is equivalent. The four MOPITT detector element pixels are validated separately to account for their different uncertainty characteristics. Pixel 1 produces the highest standard deviation and lowest correlation for all three MOPITT products. However, for TIR-only and TIR-NIR, the error-weighted average that includes all four pixels often provides the best correlation, indicating compensating pixel biases and well-captured error characteristics. We find that MOPITT bias does not depend on latitude but rather is influenced by the proximity to rapidly changing atmospheric CO. MOPITT bias drift has been bound geographically to within ±0.5 % yr-1 or lower at almost all locations. © Author(s) 2017.Funding DetailsNCAR, National Center for Atmospheric Research; NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; E02; B06; 3; OPP, Office of Polar Programs; DP160101598; LE0668470; 172; NSERC, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; NSERC, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; LACy-UMR8105, CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; UMS3365, CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; NSF, National Science Foundation; DFG, California Department of Fish and Game; NCAR, National Center for Atmospheric Research; NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; CSA, Canadian Space Agency; OPP, Office of Polar Programs; ABB; NSF, National Science Foundation; CFCAS, Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences; CSA, Canadian Space Agency; FAST, Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics; CFI, Cummings Foundation

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1st AuthorBuchholz, R. AuthorBuchholz, R.Deeter, M.Worden, H.Gille, J.Edwards, D.Hannigan, J.Jones, N.Paton-Walsh, C.Griffith, D.Smale, D.Robinson, J.Strong, K.Conway, S.Sussmann, R.Hase, F.Blumenstock, T.Mahieu, E.Langerock, B.Year2017JournalAtmospheric Measurement TechniquesVolume10Number5Pages1927-1956DOI10.5194/amt-10-1927-2017URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....b09dde8b03a535e6e7aaae5e7PublisherCopernicus GmbHKeywordsatmospheric chemistrycarbon monoxideFourier transforminfrared spectroscopymodel validationMOPITTsatellite data

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TypeArticleCitationBuchholz, R., Deeter, M., Worden, H., Gille, J., Edwards, D., Hannigan, J., Jones, N., Paton-Walsh, C., Griffith, D., Smale, D., Robinson, J., Strong, K., Conway, S., Sussmann, R., Hase, F., Blumenstock, T., Mahieu, E. and Langerock, B. (2017). Validation of MOPITT carbon monoxide using ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectrometer data from NDACC. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(5): 1927-1956