Journal Article

Comparison between satellite spectrometric and aircraft measurements of the gaseous composition of the troposphere over Siberia during the forest fires of 2012

Belan, B. D., Belov, V. V., Paris, J. -D., Arshinov, M. Yu, Fofonov, A. V., Gridnev, Yu. V., Nédélec, P., Afonin, S. V., Davydov, D. K.

2014

Overview

The vertical profiles of the O 3 , CO, CO 2 and CH 4 concentrations measured onboard the Optik Tu-134 aircraft laboratory and retrieved from data obtained with an IASI Fourier transform spectrometer operating aboard a MetOp satellite (European Space Agency) have been compared. This comparison shows that absolute differences between aircraft satellite ozone concentrations may vary from 55 to 15 ppb at the land surface and within the lower boundary layer and from 30 to −15 ppb at a height of 7000 m. Their relative differences range within 60 to 30% at a height of 500 m and 30 to −35% at a height of 7000 m. Absolute differences between aircraft and satellite carbon-monoxide concentrations may vary from 80 to 2300 ppb, while their relative differences range within −140 to 98%. For methane, the mean difference is maximal within the atmospheric boundary layer (90 ppb). According to the data on all profiles, the maximum and minimum differences reach 220 and 8 ppb, respectively, within the atmospheric boundary layer. Minimum differences range from zero at the land surface to −100 ppb in the upper troposphere. For carbon dioxide, the mean difference between the results of aircraft and satellite measurements ranges from −2 to −9 ppm. In the free troposphere, at a height of more than 3000 m, this difference is almost constant and amounts to −6 ppm. Over all flights, the maximum and minimum differences between aircraft and satellite CO 2 concentrations range from 14 to −4 ppm and from −7 to −16 ppm, respectively, within the atmospheric boundary layer. In this case, the maximum and minimum relative deviations over all flights amount to 3.4 and −4.2%, respectively, within the atmospheric boundary layer. These differences are significantly larger than those found earlier for the background conditions. It is necessary to improve the vertical gas distribution models used in the algorithms of satellite-data processing.

• Publisher: Pleiades Publishing,Springer Nature B.V,MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica
• Subject: Aircraft / Algorithms / Atmospheric boundary layer / Atmospheric models / Boundary layers / Carbon dioxide / Carbon dioxide concentration / Carbon monoxide / Climatology / Continental interfaces, environment / Data analysis / Data processing / Earth and Environmental Science / Earth Sciences / Forest fires / Fourier transform spectrometers / Fourier transforms / Geophysics/Geodesy / Height / Methane / Ocean, Atmosphere / Ozone / Profiles / Satellites / Sciences of the Universe / Spectrometry / Troposphere / Upper troposphere / Vertical distribution / Vertical profiles