CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations
Journal article, 2008
The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) mission was launched in August 2003 to sound the atmosphere by solar occultation. Carbon monoxide (CO), a good tracer of pollution plumes and atmospheric dynamics, is one of the key species provided by the primary instrument, the ACE-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS). This instrument performs measurements in both the CO 1-0 and 2-0 ro-vibrational bands, from which vertically resolved CO concentration profiles are retrieved, from the mid-troposphere to the thermosphere. This paper presents an updated description of the ACE-FTS version 2.2 CO data product, along with a comprehensive validation of these profiles using available observations (February 2004 to December 2006). We have compared the CO partial columns with ground-based measurements using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and millimeter wave radiometry, and the volume mixing ratio profiles with airborne (both high-altitude balloon flight and airplane) observations. CO satellite observations provided by nadir-looking instruments (MOPITT and TES) as well as limb-viewing remote sensors (MIPAS, SMR and MLS) were also compared with the ACE-FTS CO products. We show that the ACE-FTS measurements provide CO profiles with small retrieval errors (better than 5% from the upper troposphere to 40 km, and better than 10% above). These observations agree well with the correlative measurements, considering the rather loose coincidence criteria in some cases. Based on the validation exercise we assess the following uncertainties to the ACE-FTS measurement data: better than 15% in the upper troposphere (8–12 km), than 30% in the lower stratosphere (12–30 km), and than 25% from 30 to 100 km.
Author
C. Clerbaux
M. George
S. Turquety
K.A. Walker
B. Barret
P. Bernath
C. Boone
T. Borsdorff
J.P. Cammas
V. Catoire
M. Coffey
P.-F. Coheur
M. Deeter
M. De Mazière
J. Drummond
P. Duchatelet
E. Dupuy
R. de Zafra
F. Eddounia
D.P. Edwards
L. Emmons
B. Funke
J. Gille
D.W.T. Griffith
J. Hannigan
F. Hase
M. Höpfner
N. Jones
A. Kagawa
Y. Kasai
I. Kramer
E. Le Flochmoën
N.J. Livesey
M. López-Puertas
M. Luo
E. Mahieu
Donal Murtagh
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Global Environmental Measurements
Ph. Nédélec
A. Pazmino
H. Pumphrey
P. Ricaud
C.P. Rinsland
C. Robert
M. Schneider
C. Senten
G. Stiller
Anders Strandberg
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Optical Remote Sensing
K. Strong
R. Sussmann
V. Thouret
Joachim Urban
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Global Environmental Measurements
A. Wiacek
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
1680-7316 (ISSN) 1680-7324 (eISSN)
Vol. 8 2569-2594Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
DOI
10.5194/acp-8-2569-2008