Characterizing sampling biases in the trace gas climatologies of the SPARC Data Initiative
Journal article, 2013

Monthly zonal mean climatologies of atmospheric measurements from satellite instruments can have biases due to the nonuniform sampling of the atmosphere by the instruments. We characterize potential sampling biases in stratospheric trace gas climatologies of the Stratospheric Processes and Their Role in Climate (SPARC) Data Initiative using chemical fields from a chemistry climate model simulation and sampling patterns from 16 satellite-borne instruments. The exercise is performed for the long-lived stratospheric trace gases O3 and H2O. Monthly sampling biases for O3 exceed 10% for many instruments in the high-latitude stratosphere and in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, while annual mean sampling biases reach values of up to 20% in the same regions for some instruments. Sampling biases for H2O are generally smaller than for O3, although still notable in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere and Southern Hemisphere high latitudes. The most important mechanism leading to monthly sampling bias is nonuniform temporal sampling, i.e., the fact that for many instruments, monthly means are produced from measurements which span less than the full month in question. Similarly, annual mean sampling biases are well explained by nonuniformity in the month-to-month sampling by different instruments. Nonuniform sampling in latitude and longitude are shown to also lead to nonnegligible sampling biases, which are most relevant for climatologies which are otherwise free of biases due to nonuniform temporal sampling.

Author

M. Toohey

Helmholtz

M. I. Hegglin

University of Reading

S. Tegtmeier

Helmholtz

J. Anderson

Hampton University

J.A. Anel

University of Vigo

University of Oxford

A. Bourassa

University of Saskatchewan

Samuel Brohede

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling

D. Degenstein

University of Saskatchewan

L. Froidevaux

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

R. Fuller

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

B. Funke

Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)

J. Gille

National Center for Atmospheric Research

University of Colorado at Boulder

A. Jones

University of Toronto

Y. Kasai

Japan National Institute of Information and Communications Technology

K. Krüger

University of Oslo

Helmholtz

E. Kyrölä

Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)

J.L. Neu

A. Rozanov

Universität Bremen

L. Smith

National Center for Atmospheric Research

Joachim Urban

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling

T. von Clarmann

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

K.A. Walker

University of Toronto

R.H.J. Wang

Georgia Institute of Technology

Journal of Geophysical Research

01480227 (ISSN) 21562202 (eISSN)

Vol. 118 20 11847-11862

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Climate Research

DOI

10.1002/jgrd.50874

More information

Latest update

4/1/2021 1