Premium
Comparison of upper tropospheric carbon monoxide from MOPITT, ACE‐FTS, and HIPPO‐QCLS
Author(s) -
MartínezAlonso Sara,
Deeter Merritt N.,
Worden Helen M.,
Gille John C.,
Emmons Louisa K.,
Pan Laura L.,
Park Mijeong,
Manney Gloria L.,
Bernath Peter F.,
Boone Chris D.,
Walker Kaley A.,
Kolonjari Felicia,
Wofsy Steven C.,
Pittman Jasna,
Daube Bruce C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2014jd022397
Subject(s) - troposphere , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , tropopause , altitude (triangle) , tracer , remote sensing , climatology , geology , physics , geometry , mathematics , nuclear physics
Products from the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument are regularly validated using in situ airborne measurements. However, few of these measurements reach into the upper troposphere, thus hindering MOPITT validation in that region. Here we evaluate upper tropospheric (~500 hPa to the tropopause) MOPITT CO profiles by comparing them to satellite Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE‐FTS) retrievals and to measurements from the High‐performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research Pole to Pole Observations (HIPPO) Quantum Cascade Laser Spectrometer (QCLS). Direct comparison of colocated v5 MOPITT thermal infrared‐only retrievals, v3.0 ACE‐FTS retrievals, and HIPPO‐QCLS measurements shows a slight positive MOPITT CO bias within its 10% accuracy requirement with respect to the other two data sets. Direct comparison of colocated ACE‐FTS and HIPPO‐QCLS measurements results in a small number of samples due to the large disparity in sampling pattern and density of these data sets. Thus, two additional indirect techniques for comparison of noncoincident data sets have been applied: tracer‐tracer (CO‐O 3 ) correlation analysis and analysis of profiles in tropopause coordinates. These techniques suggest a negative bias of ACE‐FTS with respect to HIPPO‐QCLS; this could be caused by differences in resolution (horizontal, vertical) or by deficiencies in the ACE‐FTS CO retrievals below ~20 km of altitude, among others. We also investigate the temporal stability of MOPITT and ACE‐FTS data, which provide unique global CO records and are thus important in climate analysis. Our results indicate that the relative bias between the two data sets has remained generally stable during the 2004–2010 period.