A new Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy instrument to study atmospheric chemistry from a high-altitude unmanned aircraft
Jochen Stutz1,Bodo Werner2,Max Spolaor1,Lisa Scalone2,James Festa1,Catalina Tsai1,Ross Cheung1,Santo F. Colosimo1,Ugo Tricoli2,Rasmus Raecke2,Ryan Hossaini3,Martyn P. Chipperfield4,Wuhu Feng4,5,Ru-Shan Gao6,Eric J. Hintsa6,7,James W. Elkins6,Fred L. Moore6,7,Bruce Daube8,Jasna Pittman8,Steven Wofsy8,and Klaus Pfeilsticker2Jochen Stutz et al. Jochen Stutz1,Bodo Werner2,Max Spolaor1,Lisa Scalone2,James Festa1,Catalina Tsai1,Ross Cheung1,Santo F. Colosimo1,Ugo Tricoli2,Rasmus Raecke2,Ryan Hossaini3,Martyn P. Chipperfield4,Wuhu Feng4,5,Ru-Shan Gao6,Eric J. Hintsa6,7,James W. Elkins6,Fred L. Moore6,7,Bruce Daube8,Jasna Pittman8,Steven Wofsy8,and Klaus Pfeilsticker2
1Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
2Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
3Lancaster Environment Centre, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK
4Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
5National Centre for Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
6NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA
7Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
8School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
1Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
2Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
3Lancaster Environment Centre, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK
4Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
5National Centre for Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
6NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA
7Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
8School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Received: 22 Jul 2016 – Discussion started: 11 Nov 2016 – Revised: 10 Feb 2017 – Accepted: 23 Feb 2017 – Published: 15 Mar 2017
Abstract. Observations of atmospheric trace gases in the tropical upper troposphere (UT), tropical tropopause layer (TTL), and lower stratosphere (LS) require dedicated measurement platforms and instrumentation. Here we present a new limb-scanning Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) instrument developed for NASA's Global Hawk (GH) unmanned aerial system and deployed during the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX). The mini-DOAS system is designed for automatic operation under unpressurized and unheated conditions at 14–18 km altitude, collecting scattered sunlight in three wavelength windows: UV (301–387 nm), visible (410–525 nm), and near infrared (900–1700 nm). A telescope scanning unit allows selection of a viewing angle around the limb, as well as real-time correction of the aircraft pitch. Due to the high altitude, solar reference spectra are measured using diffusors and direct sunlight. The DOAS approach allows retrieval of slant column densities (SCDs) of O3, O4, NO2, and BrO with relative errors similar to other aircraft DOAS systems. Radiative transfer considerations show that the retrieval of trace gas mixing ratios from the observed SCD based on O4 observations, the most common approach for DOAS measurements, is inadequate for high-altitude observations. This is due to the frequent presence of low-altitude clouds, which shift the sensitivity of the O4 SCD into the lower atmosphere and make it highly dependent on cloud coverage. A newly developed technique that constrains the radiative transfer by comparing in situ and DOAS O3 observations overcomes this issue. Extensive sensitivity calculations show that the novel O3-scaling technique allows the retrieval of BrO and NO2 mixing ratios at high accuracies of 0.5 and 15 ppt, respectively. The BrO and NO2 mixing ratios and vertical profiles observed during ATTREX thus provide new insights into ozone and halogen chemistry in the UT, TTL, and LS.
A new limb-scanning Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) instrument was developed for NASA’s Global Hawk unmanned aerial system during the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment to study trace gases in the tropical tropopause layer. A new technique that uses in situ and DOAS O3 observations together with radiative transfer calculations allows the retrieval of mixing ratios from the slant column densities of BrO and NO2 at high accuracies of 0.5 ppt and 15 ppt, respectively.
A new limb-scanning Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) instrument was developed...
