1. Underestimation of Column NO2 Amounts from the OMI Satellite Compared to Diurnally Varying Ground-Based Retrievals from Multiple Pandora Spectrometer Instruments.
- Author
-
Herman, Jay, Abuhassan, Nader, Jhoon Kim, Jae Kim, Dubey, Mavendra, Raponi, Marcelo, and Tzortziou, Maria
- Subjects
SPECTROMETERS ,MEASURING instruments ,AIR quality ,AIR masses ,ARTIFICIAL satellites ,ATMOSPHERIC turbidity - Abstract
Retrievals of Total Column NO
2 (TCNO2 ) are compared for 14 sites from the Ozone Measuring Instrument (OMI using OMNO2-NASA v3.1) on the AURA satellite and from multiple ground-based PANDORA spectrometer instruments making direct-sun measurements. Six of these sites with multi-year PANDORA data records are in the Northern Hemisphere (Busan, Seoul, Washington DC, Waterflow New Mexico, Boulder Colorado, and Mauna Loa) and one site in the Southern Hemisphere (Buenos Aires Argentina). The first four of these sites and Buenos Aires frequently have high TCNO2 (TCNO2 > 0.5 DU) and are likely have significant air quality problems that can affect human health. Eight additional sites have shorter term data records in the US and South Korea. One of these is a one-year data record from a highly polluted site at City College in New York City with pollution levels comparable to Seoul, South Korea. The result is that on a weekly or monthly average basis, OMI almost always underestimates the amount TCNO2 by 50 to 100 %, while occasionally the daily OMI value exceeds that measured by PANDORA at very clean sites. OMI estimated air mass factor, surface reflectivity, and the OMI 24 x 13 km² FOV (field of view) are three factors that can cause OMI to underestimate TCNO2 . Because of the local inhomogeneity of NO2 emissions, the large OMI FOV is the most likely factor when comparing OMI TCNO2 to retrievals from the small PANDORA effective FOV calculated from the solar diameter of 0.5°. As part of air quality assessments, OMI always misses the frequently much higher values of TCNO2 that occur after the OMI overpass time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF