Articles | Volume 15, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4801-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4801-2022
Research article
 | 
24 Aug 2022
Research article |  | 24 Aug 2022

Improved retrieval of SO2 plume height from TROPOMI using an iterative Covariance-Based Retrieval Algorithm

Nicolas Theys, Christophe Lerot, Hugues Brenot, Jeroen van Gent, Isabelle De Smedt, Lieven Clarisse, Mike Burton, Matthew Varnam, Catherine Hayer, Benjamin Esse, and Michel Van Roozendael

Related authors

Modeling actinic flux and photolysis frequencies in dense biomass burning plumes
Jan-Lukas Tirpitz, Santo Fedele Colosimo, Nathaniel Brockway, Robert Spurr, Matt Christi, Samuel Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Johnathan Hair, Taylor Shingler, Rodney Weber, Jack Dibb, Richard Moore, Elizabeth Wiggins, Vijay Natraj, Nicolas Theys, and Jochen Stutz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1989–2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1989-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1989-2025, 2025
Short summary
Harmonized Cloud Datasets for OMI and TROPOMI Using the O2‐O2 477 nm Absorption Band
Huan Yu, Isabelle De Smedt, Nicolas Theys, Maarten Sneep, Pepijn Veefkind, and Michel Van Roozendael
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-478,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-478, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
SO2 emissions derived from TROPOMI observations over India using a flux-divergence method with variable lifetimes
Yutao Chen, Ronald J. van der A, Jieying Ding, Henk Eskes, Jason E. Williams, Nicolas Theys, Athanasios Tsikerdekis, and Pieternel F. Levelt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1851–1868, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1851-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1851-2025, 2025
Short summary
Analysis of the long-range transport of the volcanic plume from the 2021 Tajogaite/Cumbre Vieja eruption to Europe using TROPOMI and ground-based measurements
Pascal Hedelt, Jens Reichardt, Felix Lauermann, Benjamin Weiß, Nicolas Theys, Alberto Redondas, Africa Barreto, Omaira Garcia, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1253–1272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1253-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1253-2025, 2025
Short summary
Global retrieval of TROPOMI tropospheric HCHO and NO2 columns with improved consistency based on updated Peking University OMI NO2 algorithm
Yuhang Zhang, Huan Yu, Isabelle De Smedt, Jintai Lin, Nicolas Theys, Michel Van Roozendael, Gaia Pinardi, Steven Compernolle, Ruijing Ni, Fangxuan Ren, Sijie Wang, Lulu Chen, Jos Van Geffen, Mengyao Liu, Alexander Cede, Alexis Merlaud, Martina Friedrich, Andreas Richter, Ankie Piters, Vinod Kumar, Vinayak Sinha, Thomas Wagner, Yongjoo Choi, Hisahiro Takashima, Yugo Kanaya, Hitoshi Irie, Robert Spurr, Wenfu Sun, and Lorenzo Fabris
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-182,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-182, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Retrievals of water vapour and temperature exploiting the far-infrared: application to aircraft observations in preparation for the FORUM mission
Sanjeevani Panditharatne, Helen Brindley, Caroline Cox, Richard Siddans, Jonathan Murray, Laura Warwick, and Stuart Fox
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 717–735, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-717-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-717-2025, 2025
Short summary
Global decadal measurements of methanol, ethene, ethyne, and HCN from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder
Kelley C. Wells, Dylan B. Millet, Jared F. Brewer, Vivienne H. Payne, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Rick Pernak, Susan Kulawik, Corinne Vigouroux, Nicholas Jones, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria Makarova, Tomoo Nagahama, Ivan Ortega, Mathias Palm, Kimberly Strong, Matthias Schneider, Dan Smale, Ralf Sussmann, and Minqiang Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 695–716, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-695-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-695-2025, 2025
Short summary
Forward model emulator for atmospheric radiative transfer using Gaussian processes and cross validation
Otto Lamminpää, Jouni Susiluoto, Jonathan Hobbs, James McDuffie, Amy Braverman, and Houman Owhadi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 673–694, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-673-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-673-2025, 2025
Short summary
Developments on a 22 GHz microwave radiometer and reprocessing of 13-year time series for water vapour studies
Alistair Bell, Eric Sauvageat, Gunter Stober, Klemens Hocke, and Axel Murk
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 555–567, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-555-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-555-2025, 2025
Short summary
Optimal selection of satellite XCO2 images for urban CO2 emission monitoring
Alexandre Danjou, Grégoire Broquet, Andrew Schuh, François-Marie Bréon, and Thomas Lauvaux
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 533–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-533-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-533-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Aliwell, S. R., Van Roozendael, M., Johnston, P. V., Richter, A., Wagner, T., Arlander, D. W., Burrows, J. P., Fish, D. J., Jones, R. L., Tørnkvist, K. K., Lambert, J.-C., Pfeilsticker, K., and Pundt, I.: Analysis for BrO in zenith-sky spectra: An intercomparison exercise for analysis improvement, J. Geophys. Res., 107, ACH 10-1–ACH 10-20, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD000329, 2002. 
Beirle, S., Sihler, H., and Wagner, T.: Linearisation of the effects of spectral shift and stretch in DOAS analysis, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 661–675, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-661-2013, 2013. 
Bogumil, K., Orphal, J., Homann, T., Voigt, S., Spietz, P., Fleischmann, O., Vogel, A., Hartmann, M., Bovensmann, H., Frerick, J., and Burrows, J. P.: Measurements of molecular absorption spectra with the SCIAMACHY Pre-Flight Model: instrument characterization and reference data for atmospheric remote-sensing in the 230–2380 nm region, J. Photoch. Photobio. A, 157, 167–184, 2003. 
Brenot, H., Theys, N., Clarisse, L., van Geffen, J., van Gent, J., Van Roozendael, M., van der A, R., Hurtmans, D., Coheur, P.-F., Clerbaux, C., Valks, P., Hedelt, P., Prata, F., Rasson, O., Sievers, K., and Zehner, C.: Support to Aviation Control Service (SACS): an online service for near-real-time satellite monitoring of volcanic plumes, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1099–1123, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1099-2014, 2014. 
Download
Short summary
Sulfur dioxide plume height after a volcanic eruption is an important piece of information for many different scientific studies and applications. Satellite UV retrievals are useful in this respect, but available algorithms have shown so far limited sensitivity to SO2 height. Here we present a new technique to improve the retrieval of SO2 plume height for SO2 columns as low as 5 DU. We demonstrate the algorithm using TROPOMI measurements and compare with other height estimates.
Share