A216-0012
MOPITT Carbon Monoxide Validation with Canadian High Arctic Ground-based NDACC/TCCON FTIR Measurements

Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Ali Jalali1, Kaley A Walker1, Kimberly Strong1, Debra Wunch1, Jacob Hedelius2, Erik Lutsch1, Sébastien Roche1, Tyler Wizenberg1, James R Drummond3, Rebecca R Buchholz4 and Helen Marie Worden4, (1)University of Toronto, Department of Physics, Toronto, ON, Canada, (2)University of Toronto, Department of Physics, Toronto, Canada, (3)Dalhousie University, Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Halifax, NS, Canada, (4)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) is an instrument on the Terra satellite that measures tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) around the globe to locate its sources, sinks, and transport. MOPITT has the longest dataset of CO from space, starting from early 2000 to the present day, and monitoring the accuracy and precision of its measurements is crucial to determining the role of CO in the climate system and atmospheric changes in different regions.

Validation of satellite instruments like MOPITT are often conducted using ground-based instruments to ensure the continued accuracy of the instrument’s measurements and its scientific results. In this study, we use data from 2006 to 2019 from the Bruker IFS 125HR Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer located at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka, Nunavut, Canada to cross validate the MOPITT measurements. These comparisons utilize mid- and near-infrared FTIR measurements made as part of the Network for the Detection for Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), respectively.

MOPITT retrieval products include retrievals from the near-infrared (NIR) channel, the thermal infrared (TIR) channel, and a joint retrieval from the thermal and near-infrared (NIR+TIR) channels. Each channel’s detector has four pixels. All MOPITT version 8 retrieval products within a 110 km radius from the PEARL station and within a 24-hour time interval are used in this validation study. The comparison between each pair of data products is done on a profile-by-profile basis (NDACC) and on a column basis (TCCON and NDACC). First, each MOPITT pixel’s bias is investigated, then filters are applied to the data set to minimize the bias between the two instruments. The sensitivity of each MOPITT pixel and each channel is examined, over the Canadian high Arctic. For each pixel, the bias and drift of the data products during the comparison time period are investigated. Generally, for all but one pixel, the overall bias over land is found to be smaller than over water.

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