CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations

Cathy Clerbaux (1) , Maya George (1) , Solène Turquety (1) , K. A. Walker (2, 3) , Brice Barret (4) , P. Bernath (2, 5) , C. Boone (2) , T. Borsdorff (6) , Jean-Pierre Cammas (4) , Valéry Catoire (7) , M. Coffey (8) , Pierre-François Coheur (9) , M. Deeter (8) , M. de Mazière (10) , J. Drummond (11) , P. Duchatelet (12) , E. Dupuy (2) , R. de Zafra (13) , F. Eddounia (1) , D. P. Edwards (8) , L. Emmons (8) , B. Funke (14) , J. Gille (8) , D. W. T. Griffith (15) , J. Hannigan (8) , F. Hase (16) , M. Höpfner (16) , N. Jones (15) , A. Kagawa (17) , Y. Kasai (18) , I. Kramer (16) , E. Le Flochmoën (4) , N. J. Livesey (19) , M. López-Puertas (14) , M. Luo (19) , E. Mahieu (12) , D. Murtagh (20) , P. Nédélec (4) , Andrea Pazmino (1) , H. Pumphrey (21) , P. Ricaud (4) , C. P. Rinsland (22) , Cédric Robert Robert (7) , M. Schneider (16) , C. Senten (10) , G. Stiller (16) , A. Strandberg (20) , K. Strong (3) , R. Sussmann (6) , V. Thouret (4) , Jakub Urban (20) , A. Wiacek (3)

1 SA - Service d'aéronomie
2 Department of Chemistry [Waterloo]
3 Department of Physics [Toronto]
4 LAERO - Laboratoire d'aérologie
5 Department of Chemistry [York, UK]
6 IMK-IFU - Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung - Atmosphärische Umweltforschung
7 LPCE - Laboratoire de physique et chimie de l'environnement
8 NCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research [Boulder]
9 Spectroscopie de l'atmosphère, Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique
10 BIRA-IASB - Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique
11 Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science [Halifax]
12 Université de Liège
13 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Stony Brook]
14 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
15 School of Chemistry [Wollongong]
16 IMK - Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research
17 Fujitsu FIP Corporation
18 NICT - National Institute of Information and Communications Technology [Tokyo]
19 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
20 Chalmers University of Technology [Göteborg]
21 School of Geosciences [Edinburgh]
22 LaRC - NASA Langley Research Center [Hampton]

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.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère

Cathy Clerbaux, Maya George, Solène Turquety, K. A. Walker, Brice Barret, et al.. CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2008, 8 (9), pp.2569-2594. ⟨10.5194/acp-8-2569-2008⟩. ⟨hal-00328587⟩