Articles | Volume 11, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2983-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2983-2018
Research article
 | 
22 May 2018
Research article |  | 22 May 2018

Assessing snow extent data sets over North America to inform and improve trace gas retrievals from solar backscatter

Matthew J. Cooper, Randall V. Martin, Alexei I. Lyapustin, and Chris A. McLinden

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AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
AR by Matthew Cooper on behalf of the Authors (11 Apr 2018)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (26 Apr 2018) by Folkert Boersma
AR by Matthew Cooper on behalf of the Authors (01 May 2018)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish as is (03 May 2018) by Folkert Boersma
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Short summary
To accurately infer air pollutant concentrations from satellite observations, we must first know the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface. Using a model, we show that satellite observations are better able to observe NO2 near the surface if snow is present. However, knowing when snow is present is difficult due to its variability. We test seven existing snow cover data sets to assess their ability to inform future satellite observations and find that the IMS data set is best suited for this task.