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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres

 

Keywords

  • nitric acid
  • validation
  • Aura MLS

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Instruments and techniques
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: constituent transport and chemistry
Abstract
Cited By (5)
 

Abstract

Validation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder HNO3 measurements

M. L. Santee

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

A. Lambert

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

W. G. Read

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

N. J. Livesey

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

R. E. Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

D. T. Cuddy

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

W. H. Daffer

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

B. J. Drouin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

L. Froidevaux

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

R. A. Fuller

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

R. F. Jarnot

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

B. W. Knosp

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

G. L. Manney

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

V. S. Perun

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

W. V. Snyder

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

P. C. Stek

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

R. P. Thurstans

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

P. A. Wagner

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

J. W. Waters

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

G. Muscari

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy

R. L. de Zafra

Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York, USA

J. E. Dibb

Climate Change Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA

D. W. Fahey

Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA

P. J. Popp

Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA

T. P. Marcy

Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA

K. W. Jucks

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

G. C. Toon

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

R. A. Stachnik

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

P. F. Bernath

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

C. D. Boone

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

K. A. Walker

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

J. Urban

Department of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

D. Murtagh

Department of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

We assess the quality of the version 2.2 (v2.2) HNO3 measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Earth Observing System Aura satellite. The MLS HNO3 product has been greatly improved over that in the previous version (v1.5), with smoother profiles, much more realistic behavior at the lowest retrieval levels, and correction of a high bias caused by an error in one of the spectroscopy files used in v1.5 processing. The v2.2 HNO3 data are scientifically useful over the range 215 to 3.2 hPa, with single-profile precision of ∼0.7 ppbv throughout. Vertical resolution is 3–4 km in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, degrading to ∼5 km in the middle and upper stratosphere. The impact of various sources of systematic uncertainty has been quantified through a comprehensive set of retrieval simulations. In aggregate, systematic uncertainties are estimated to induce in the v2.2 HNO3 measurements biases that vary with altitude between ±0.5 and ±2 ppbv and multiplicative errors of ±5–15% throughout the stratosphere, rising to ∼±30% at 215 hPa. Consistent with this uncertainty analysis, comparisons with correlative data sets show that relative to HNO3 measurements from ground-based, balloon-borne, and satellite instruments operating in both the infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum, MLS v2.2 HNO3 mixing ratios are uniformly low by 10–30% throughout most of the stratosphere. Comparisons with in situ measurements made from the DC-8 and WB-57 aircraft in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere indicate that the MLS HNO3 values are low in this region as well, but are useful for scientific studies (with appropriate averaging).

Received 29 March 2007; accepted 12 October 2007; published 28 December 2007.

Citation: Santee, M. L., et al. (2007), Validation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder HNO3 measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D24S40, doi:10.1029/2007JD008721.

Cited By

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