Articles | Volume 16, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5697-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5697-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
28 Nov 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 28 Nov 2023
| 28 Nov 2023
Ground-to-UAV, laser-based emissions quantification of methane and acetylene at long standoff distances
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Spectrum Technology and Research Division, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Eleanor M. Waxman
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Spectrum Technology and Research Division, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Eli Hoenig
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Spectrum Technology and Research Division, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Daniel Hesselius
Integrated Remote and In-Situ Sensing (IRISS), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Christopher Chaote
Integrated Remote and In-Situ Sensing (IRISS), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Ian Coddington
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Spectrum Technology and Research Division, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Nathan R. Newbury
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Spectrum Technology and Research Division, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
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Chinthaka Weerasekara, Lindsay C. Morris, Nathan A. Malarich, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Daniel I. Herman, Kevin C. Cossel, Nathan R. Newbury, Clenton E. Owensby, Stephen M. Welch, Cosmin Blaga, Brett D. DePaola, Ian Coddington, Brian R. Washburn, and Eduardo A. Santos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6107–6117, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6107-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6107-2024, 2024
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Most methane emissions during the life cycle of beef cattle occur during the grazing phase. Measuring methane in grazing systems is difficult due to the high mobility and low density of animals. This work investigates if dual-comb spectroscopy can measure methane emissions from small cattle herds. An enhancement of 10 nmol mol-1 methane above the atmospheric background was measured, equivalent to 20 head located 60 m away. The calculated methane flux was within 5 % of the actual release rate.
Daniel I. Herman, Griffin Mead, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Esther Baumann, Nathan A. Malarich, Brian R. Washburn, Nathan R. Newbury, Ian Coddington, and Kevin C. Cossel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4053–4066, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4053-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4053-2023, 2023
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Measurements of the isotope ratio of water vapor provide information about the sources and history of water vapor at a given location, which can be used to understand the impacts of climate change on global water use. Here, we demonstrate a new method for measuring isotope ratios over long open-air paths, which can reduce sampling bias and provide more spatial averaging than standard point sensor methods. We show that this new technique has high sensitivity and accuracy.
Eleanor M. Waxman, Kevin C. Cossel, Fabrizio Giorgetta, Gar-Wing Truong, William C. Swann, Ian Coddington, and Nathan R. Newbury
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4177–4192, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4177-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4177-2019, 2019
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In this work we measure carbon dioxide for the city of Boulder, Colorado, using a novel laser-based instrument. We then use a model to determine the strength of the emissions from the city. Based on our measurement location, we attribute the majority of these emissions to vehicles. We compare our emissions to the city vehicle emissions inventory with good agreement.
Eleanor M. Waxman, Kevin C. Cossel, Gar-Wing Truong, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, William C. Swann, Sean Coburn, Robert J. Wright, Gregory B. Rieker, Ian Coddington, and Nathan R. Newbury
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3295–3311, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3295-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3295-2017, 2017
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In this paper, we compare greenhouse gas measurements from two novel open-path instruments to determine how similarly they measure the same gas concentration. We do this over an outdoor path, so the two instruments measured the same outdoor air. We found that the two instruments agree extremely well, so in the future if the instruments were at two different locations we could reliably compare their measurements to determine differences between the two places.
Hendrik Fuchs, Aaron Stainsby, Florian Berg, René Dubus, Michelle Färber, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Frank Holland, Kelvin H. Bates, Steven S. Brown, Matthew M. Coggon, Glenn S. Diskin, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Christopher M. Jernigan, Jeff Peischl, Michael A. Robinson, Andrew W. Rollins, Nell B. Schafer, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Eleanor M. Waxman, Lu Xu, Kristen Zuraski, Andreas Wahner, and Anna Novelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 881–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, 2025
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Significant improvements have been made to the instruments used to measure OH reactivity, which is equivalent to the sum of air pollutant concentrations. Accurate and precise measurements with a high time resolution have been achieved, allowing use on aircraft, as demonstrated during flights in the USA.
Chinthaka Weerasekara, Lindsay C. Morris, Nathan A. Malarich, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Daniel I. Herman, Kevin C. Cossel, Nathan R. Newbury, Clenton E. Owensby, Stephen M. Welch, Cosmin Blaga, Brett D. DePaola, Ian Coddington, Brian R. Washburn, and Eduardo A. Santos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6107–6117, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6107-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6107-2024, 2024
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Most methane emissions during the life cycle of beef cattle occur during the grazing phase. Measuring methane in grazing systems is difficult due to the high mobility and low density of animals. This work investigates if dual-comb spectroscopy can measure methane emissions from small cattle herds. An enhancement of 10 nmol mol-1 methane above the atmospheric background was measured, equivalent to 20 head located 60 m away. The calculated methane flux was within 5 % of the actual release rate.
Daniel I. Herman, Griffin Mead, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Esther Baumann, Nathan A. Malarich, Brian R. Washburn, Nathan R. Newbury, Ian Coddington, and Kevin C. Cossel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4053–4066, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4053-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4053-2023, 2023
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Measurements of the isotope ratio of water vapor provide information about the sources and history of water vapor at a given location, which can be used to understand the impacts of climate change on global water use. Here, we demonstrate a new method for measuring isotope ratios over long open-air paths, which can reduce sampling bias and provide more spatial averaging than standard point sensor methods. We show that this new technique has high sensitivity and accuracy.
Gijs de Boer, Steven Borenstein, Radiance Calmer, Christopher Cox, Michael Rhodes, Christopher Choate, Jonathan Hamilton, Jackson Osborn, Dale Lawrence, Brian Argrow, and Janet Intrieri
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 19–31, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-19-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-19-2022, 2022
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This article provides a summary of the collection of atmospheric data over the near-coastal zone upwind of Barbados during the ATOMIC and EUREC4A field campaigns. These data were collected to improve our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the lower atmosphere in the tropical trade-wind regime over the Atlantic Ocean and the influence of that portion of the atmosphere on the development and maintenance of clouds.
Gijs de Boer, Cory Dixon, Steven Borenstein, Dale A. Lawrence, Jack Elston, Daniel Hesselius, Maciej Stachura, Roger Laurence III, Sara Swenson, Christopher M. Choate, Abhiram Doddi, Aiden Sesnic, Katherine Glasheen, Zakariya Laouar, Flora Quinby, Eric Frew, and Brian M. Argrow
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2515–2528, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2515-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2515-2021, 2021
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This paper describes data collected by uncrewed aircraft operated by the University of Colorado Boulder and Black Swift Technologies during the Lower Atmospheric Profiling Studies at Elevation – A Remotely-piloted Aircraft Team Experiment (LAPSE-RATE) field campaign. This effort was conducted in the San Luis Valley of Colorado in July 2018 and included intensive observing of the atmospheric boundary layer. This paper describes data collected by four aircraft operated by these entities.
Eleanor M. Waxman, Kevin C. Cossel, Fabrizio Giorgetta, Gar-Wing Truong, William C. Swann, Ian Coddington, and Nathan R. Newbury
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4177–4192, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4177-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4177-2019, 2019
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In this work we measure carbon dioxide for the city of Boulder, Colorado, using a novel laser-based instrument. We then use a model to determine the strength of the emissions from the city. Based on our measurement location, we attribute the majority of these emissions to vehicles. We compare our emissions to the city vehicle emissions inventory with good agreement.
Caroline B. Alden, Subhomoy Ghosh, Sean Coburn, Colm Sweeney, Anna Karion, Robert Wright, Ian Coddington, Gregory B. Rieker, and Kuldeep Prasad
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1565–1582, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1565-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1565-2018, 2018
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The location and sizing leaks of methane from natural gas operations poses a real challenge for greenhouse gas emission mitigation efforts and for accurate quantification of emissions inventories. We demonstrate, with synthetic and field tests, a new statistical method for the location and sizing of small trace gas point sources dispersed over large areas, based on measurements of ambient atmospheric conditions made with long-range, open-path laser-based atmospheric observations.
Eleanor M. Waxman, Kevin C. Cossel, Gar-Wing Truong, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, William C. Swann, Sean Coburn, Robert J. Wright, Gregory B. Rieker, Ian Coddington, and Nathan R. Newbury
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3295–3311, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3295-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3295-2017, 2017
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In this paper, we compare greenhouse gas measurements from two novel open-path instruments to determine how similarly they measure the same gas concentration. We do this over an outdoor path, so the two instruments measured the same outdoor air. We found that the two instruments agree extremely well, so in the future if the instruments were at two different locations we could reliably compare their measurements to determine differences between the two places.
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Instruments and Platforms
Study of NO2 and HCHO vertical profile measurement based on fast synchronous multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (FS MAX-DOAS)
Tropospheric ozone sensing with a differential absorption lidar based on a single CO2 Raman cell
The Small Mobile Ozone Lidar (SMOL): instrument description and first results
Design study for an airborne N2O lidar
The Pyrenean Platform for Observation of the Atmosphere: site, long-term dataset, and science
SORAS, A ground-based 110 GHz microwave radiometer for measuring the stratospheric ozone vertical profile in Seoul
A novel, balloon-borne UV–Vis spectrometer for direct sun measurements of stratospheric bromine
Stability requirements of satellites to detect long-term stratospheric ozone trends based upon Monte Carlo simulations
Martian column CO2 and pressure measurement with spaceborne differential absorption lidar at 1.96 µm
Offshore methane detection and quantification from space using sun glint measurements with the GHGSat constellation
Novel use of an adapted ultraviolet double monochromator for measurements of global and direct irradiance, ozone, and aerosol
Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) polarization characteristics and correction algorithm
An open-path observatory for greenhouse gases based on near-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy
A portable reflected-sunlight spectrometer for CO2 and CH4
Open-path measurement of stable water isotopologues using mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy
Total column ozone retrieval from a novel array spectroradiometer
Applying machine learning to improve the near-real-time products of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder
The site-specific primary calibration conditions for the Brewer spectrophotometer
Precipitable water vapor retrievals using a ground-based infrared sky camera in subtropical South America
Theoretical assessment of the ability of the MicroCarb satellite city-scan observing mode to estimate urban CO2 emissions
UAV-based sampling systems to analyse greenhouse gases and volatile organic compounds encompassing compound-specific stable isotope analysis
Performance and polarization response of slit homogenizers for the GeoCarb mission
Exploring bias in the OCO-3 snapshot area mapping mode via geometry, surface, and aerosol effects
Updated spectral radiance calibration on TIR bands for TANSO-FTS-2 onboard GOSAT-2
Evaluation of the High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) methane retrievals during the summer 2019 ACT-America campaign
Polarization performance simulation for the GeoXO atmospheric composition instrument: NO2 retrieval impacts
The impact of aerosol fluorescence on long-term water vapor monitoring by Raman lidar and evaluation of a potential correction method
Integrated airborne investigation of the air composition over the Russian sector of the Arctic
Measurement of the vertical atmospheric density profile from the X-ray Earth occultation of the Crab Nebula with Insight-HXMT
Quantification and mitigation of the instrument effects and uncertainties of the airborne limb imaging FTIR GLORIA
Improved calibration procedures for the EM27/SUN spectrometers of the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON)
Ground-based Ku-band microwave observations of ozone in the polar middle atmosphere
Traceable total ozone column retrievals from direct solar spectral irradiance measurements in the ultraviolet
Far-ultraviolet airglow remote sensing measurements on Feng Yun 3-D meteorological satellite
The NO2 camera based on gas correlation spectroscopy
Total water vapour columns derived from Sentinel 5P using the AMC-DOAS method
Mobile and high-spectral-resolution Fabry–Pérot interferometer spectrographs for atmospheric remote sensing
Diurnal variability of stratospheric column NO2 measured using direct solar and lunar spectra over Table Mountain, California (34.38° N)
The “ideal” spectrograph for atmospheric observations
Differential absorption lidar for water vapor isotopologues in the 1.98 µm spectral region: sensitivity analysis with respect to regional atmospheric variability
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Long-term column-averaged greenhouse gas observations using a COCCON spectrometer at the high-surface-albedo site in Gobabeb, Namibia
A fully automated Dobson sun spectrophotometer for total column ozone and Umkehr measurements
Slit homogenizer introduced performance gain analysis based on the Sentinel-5/UVNS spectrometer
On the capability of the future ALTIUS ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared limb sounder to constrain modelled stratospheric ozone
MicroPulse DIAL (MPD) – a diode-laser-based lidar architecture for quantitative atmospheric profiling
A multi-purpose, multi-rotor drone system for long-range and high-altitude volcanic gas plume measurements
Tropospheric NO2 measurements using a three-wavelength optical parametric oscillator differential absorption lidar
Spectral calibration of the MethaneAIR instrument
The design and development of a tuneable and portable radiation source for in situ spectrometer characterisation
Jiangman Xu, Ang Li, Zhaokun Hu, Hairong Zhang, and Min Qin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 865–879, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-865-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-865-2025, 2025
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This article introduces an experimental system for rapidly acquiring trace gas profiles using multi-channel spectroscopy, significantly enhancing the time resolution of spectral collection. The fast synchronous multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (FS MAX-DOAS) successfully obtains gas profiles. This work can also be integrated with mobile platforms for navigational observation research, which is crucial for making mobile MAX-DOAS profile measurements.
Guangqiang Fan, Yibin Fu, Juntao Huo, Yan Xiang, Tianshu Zhang, Wenqing Liu, and Zhi Ning
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 443–453, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-443-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-443-2025, 2025
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Our research introduces a differential absorption lidar system for monitoring tropospheric ozone, utilizing a single CO2 Raman cell. This technology enables the acquisition of high-resolution vertical ozone profiles from 0.3 to 4 km, essential for understanding air quality and climate impacts.
Fernando Chouza, Thierry Leblanc, Patrick Wang, Steven S. Brown, Kristen Zuraski, Wyndom Chace, Caroline C. Womack, Jeff Peischl, John Hair, Taylor Shingler, and John Sullivan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 405–419, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-405-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-405-2025, 2025
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The JPL lidar group developed the SMOL (Small Mobile Ozone Lidar), an affordable ozone differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system covering all altitudes from 200 m to 10 km a.g.l. The comparison with airborne in situ and lidar measurements shows very good agreement. An additional comparison with nearby surface ozone measuring instruments indicates unbiased measurements by the SMOL lidars down to 200 m a.g.l.
Christoph Kiemle, Andreas Fix, Christian Fruck, Gerhard Ehret, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6569–6578, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6569-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6569-2024, 2024
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Nitrous oxide is the third most important greenhouse gas modified by human activities after carbon dioxide and methane. This study examines the feasibility of airborne differential absorption lidar to quantify emissions from agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, industry, and biomass burning. Simulations show that a technically realizable and affordable mid-infrared lidar system will be able to measure the nitrous oxide column concentration enhancements with sufficient precision.
Marie Lothon, François Gheusi, Fabienne Lohou, Véronique Pont, Serge Soula, Corinne Jambert, Solène Derrien, Yannick Bezombes, Emmanuel Leclerc, Gilles Athier, Antoine Vial, Alban Philibert, Bernard Campistron, Frédérique Saïd, Jeroen Sonke, Julien Amestoy, Erwan Bargain, Pierre Bosser, Damien Boulanger, Guillaume Bret, Renaud Bodichon, Laurent Cabanas, Guylaine Canut, Jean-Bernard Estrampes, Eric Gardrat, Zaida Gomez Kuri, Jérémy Gueffier, Fabienne Guesdon, Morgan Lopez, Olivier Masson, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Yves Meyerfeld, Nicolas Pascal, Eric Pique, Michel Ramonet, Felix Starck, and Romain Vidal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6265–6300, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6265-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6265-2024, 2024
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The Pyrenean Platform for Observation of the Atmosphere (P2OA) is a coupled plain–mountain instrumented platform in southwestern France for the monitoring of climate variables and the study of meteorological processes in a mountainous region. A comprehensive description of this platform is presented for the first time: its instrumentation, the associated dataset, and a meteorological characterization the site. The potential of the P2OA is illustrated through several examples of process studies.
Soohyun Ka and Jung Jin Oh
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-108, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-108, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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We developed a ground-based 110.836 GHz radiometer developed to measure the stratospheric ozone profile over Seoul, Korea. To ensure precise measurements and correct the atmospheric spectrum, we employed hot-cold calibration along with continuous tipping curve calibration. Prior to the retrieval process, both pointing and frequency offsets were corrected. We provide stratospheric ozone profiles from 2016 to 2021 which are compared with collocated satellite observations.
Karolin Voss, Philip Holzbeck, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Ralph Kleinschek, Gerald Wetzel, Blanca Fuentes Andrade, Michael Höpfner, Jörn Ungermann, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, and André Butz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4507–4528, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4507-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4507-2024, 2024
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A novel balloon-borne instrument for direct sun and solar occultation measurements of several UV–Vis absorbing gases (e.g. O3, NO2, BrO, IO, and HONO) is described. Its major design features and performance during two stratospheric deployments are discussed. From the measured overhead BrO concentration and a suitable photochemical correction, total stratospheric bromine is inferred to (17.5 ± 2.2) ppt in air masses which entered the stratosphere around early 2017 ± 1 year.
Mark Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3597–3604, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3597-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3597-2024, 2024
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We investigate how stable the performance of a satellite instrument has to be to be useful for assessing long-term trends in stratospheric ozone. The stability of an instrument is specified in percent per decade and is also called instrument drift. Instrument drifts add to uncertainties of long-term trends. From simulated time series of ozone based on the Monte Carlo approach, we determine stability requirements that are needed to achieve the desired long-term trend uncertainty.
Zhaoyan Liu, Bing Lin, Joel F. Campbell, Jirong Yu, Jihong Geng, and Shibin Jiang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2977–2990, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2977-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2977-2024, 2024
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We introduce a concept utilizing a differential absorption barometric lidar operating within the 1.96 µm CO2 absorption band. Our focus is on a compact lidar configuration, featuring reduced telescope size and lower laser pulse energies towards minimizing costs for potential forthcoming Mars missions. The core measurement objectives encompass the determination of column CO2 absorption optical depth and abundance, surface air pressure, and vertical distributions of dust and cloud layers.
Jean-Philippe W. MacLean, Marianne Girard, Dylan Jervis, David Marshall, Jason McKeever, Antoine Ramier, Mathias Strupler, Ewan Tarrant, and David Young
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 863–874, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-863-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-863-2024, 2024
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We demonstrate the capabilities of the GHGSat satellite constellation to detect and quantify offshore methane emissions using a sun glint observation mode. Using this technique, we observe offshore methane emissions from space ranging from 180 kg h−1 to 84 000 kg h−1. We further assess the instrument performance in offshore environments, both empirically and using analytical modelling, and find that the detection limit varies with latitude and season.
Alexander Geddes, Ben Liley, Richard McKenzie, Michael Kotkamp, and Richard Querel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 827–838, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-827-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-827-2024, 2024
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In this paper we describe a unique spectrometer that has been developed and tested over 10 years at Lauder, New Zealand. The spectrometer in question, UV2, makes alternating measurements of global UV and direct sun UV irradiance. After an assessment of the instrument performance, we compare the ozone and aerosol optical depth derived from UV2 to other independent measurements, finding excellent agreement suggesting that UV2 could supersede these measurements, particularly for ozone.
Haklim Choi, Xiong Liu, Ukkyo Jeong, Heesung Chong, Jhoon Kim, Myung Hwan Ahn, Dai Ho Ko, Dong-Won Lee, Kyung-Jung Moon, and Kwang-Mog Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 145–164, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-145-2024, 2024
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GEMS is the first geostationary satellite to measure the UV--Vis region, and this paper reports the polarization characteristics of GEMS and an algorithm. We develop a polarization correction algorithm optimized for GEMS based on a look-up-table approach that simultaneously considers the polarization of incoming light and polarization sensitivity characteristics of the instrument. Pre-launch polarization error was adjusted close to zero across the spectral range after polarization correction.
Tobias D. Schmitt, Jonas Kuhn, Ralph Kleinschek, Benedikt A. Löw, Stefan Schmitt, William Cranton, Martina Schmidt, Sanam N. Vardag, Frank Hase, David W. T. Griffith, and André Butz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6097–6110, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6097-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6097-2023, 2023
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Our new observatory measures greenhouse gas concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) along a 1.55 km long light path over the city of Heidelberg, Germany. We compared our measurements with measurements that were taken at a single point at one end of our path. The two mostly agreed but show a significant difference for CO2 with certain wind directions. This is important when using greenhouse gas concentration measurements to observe greenhouse gas emissions of cities.
Benedikt A. Löw, Ralph Kleinschek, Vincent Enders, Stanley P. Sander, Thomas J. Pongetti, Tobias D. Schmitt, Frank Hase, Julian Kostinek, and André Butz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5125–5144, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5125-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5125-2023, 2023
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We developed a portable spectrometer (EM27/SCA) that remotely measures greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere above a target region. The measurements can deliver insights into local emission patterns. To evaluate its performance, we set up the EM27/SCA above the Los Angeles Basin side by side with a similar non-portable instrument (CLARS-FTS). The precision is promising and the measurements are consistent with CLARS-FTS. In the future, we need to account for light scattering.
Daniel I. Herman, Griffin Mead, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Esther Baumann, Nathan A. Malarich, Brian R. Washburn, Nathan R. Newbury, Ian Coddington, and Kevin C. Cossel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4053–4066, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4053-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4053-2023, 2023
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Measurements of the isotope ratio of water vapor provide information about the sources and history of water vapor at a given location, which can be used to understand the impacts of climate change on global water use. Here, we demonstrate a new method for measuring isotope ratios over long open-air paths, which can reduce sampling bias and provide more spatial averaging than standard point sensor methods. We show that this new technique has high sensitivity and accuracy.
Luca Egli, Julian Gröbner, Herbert Schill, and Eliane Maillard Barras
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2889–2902, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2889-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2889-2023, 2023
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This paper introduces a new method to retrieve total column ozone with spectral ground-based measurements from a novel array spectroradiometer. Total column ozone estimates using the small, cost-effective, and robust instrument and the new retrieval method are compared with other co-located total column ozone instruments. The comparison shows that the new system performs similarly to other well-established instruments, which require substantially more maintenance than the system introduced here.
Frank Werner, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Luis F. Millán, William G. Read, Michael J. Schwartz, Paul A. Wagner, William H. Daffer, Alyn Lambert, Sasha N. Tolstoff, and Michelle L. Santee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2733–2751, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2733-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2733-2023, 2023
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The algorithm that produces the near-real-time data products of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder has been updated. The new algorithm is based on machine learning techniques and yields data products with much improved accuracy. It is shown that the new algorithm outperforms the previous versions, even when it is trained on only a few years of satellite observations. This confirms the potential of applying machine learning to the near-real-time efforts of other current and future mission concepts.
Xiaoyi Zhao, Vitali Fioletov, Alberto Redondas, Julian Gröbner, Luca Egli, Franz Zeilinger, Javier López-Solano, Alberto Berjón Arroyo, James Kerr, Eliane Maillard Barras, Herman Smit, Michael Brohart, Reno Sit, Akira Ogyu, Ihab Abboud, and Sum Chi Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2273–2295, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2273-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2273-2023, 2023
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The Brewer ozone spectrophotometer is one of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW)'s standard ozone monitoring instruments since the 1980s. This work is aimed at obtaining answers to (1) why Brewer primary calibration work can only be performed at certain sites (e.g., Izaña and MLO) and (2) what is needed to assure the equivalence of calibration quality from different sites.
Elion Daniel Hack, Theotonio Pauliquevis, Henrique Melo Jorge Barbosa, Marcia Akemi Yamasoe, Dimitri Klebe, and Alexandre Lima Correia
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1263–1278, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1263-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1263-2023, 2023
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Water vapor is a key factor when seeking to understand fast-changing processes when clouds and storms form and develop. We show here how images from a calibrated infrared camera can be used to derive how much water vapor there is in the atmosphere at a given time. Comparing our results to an established technique, for a case of stable atmospheric conditions, we found an agreement within 2.8 %. Water vapor sky maps can be retrieved every few minutes, day or night, under partly cloudy skies.
Kai Wu, Paul I. Palmer, Dien Wu, Denis Jouglet, Liang Feng, and Tom Oda
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 581–602, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-581-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-581-2023, 2023
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We evaluate the theoretical ability of the upcoming MicroCarb satellite to estimate urban CO2 emissions over Paris and London. We explore the relative performance of alternative two-sweep and three-sweep city observing modes and take into account the impacts of cloud cover and urban biological CO2 fluxes. Our results find both the two-sweep and three-sweep observing modes are able to reduce prior flux errors by 20 %–40 % depending on the prevailing wind direction and cloud coverage.
Simon Leitner, Wendelin Feichtinger, Stefan Mayer, Florian Mayer, Dustin Krompetz, Rebecca Hood-Nowotny, and Andrea Watzinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 513–527, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-513-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-513-2023, 2023
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An increased social environmental awareness requires the monitoring of greenhouse gases (GHGs). We report on the development of two sampling devices (which can be mounted to a drone) and the subsequent measurement setup to analyse these gases. The functionality of the presented system was tested in the field, and the results emphasised the functionality of the sampling and measurement setup, demonstrating that it is a viable tool for monitoring GHGs and identifying their emission sources.
Sean Crowell, Tobias Haist, Michael Tscherpel, Jérôme Caron, Eric Burgh, and Berrien Moore III
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 195–208, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-195-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-195-2023, 2023
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Variations in brightness in radiance measurements cause errors that can be mitigated with hardware that scrambles the pattern of the incoming light. GeoCarb took this route to minimize this source of errors, but lab testing determined that the solution chosen was too sensitive to the the polarization of the incoming light. Modeling found that this was a predictable result of using gold coatings in the design, which is typical of spaceflight optical instruments.
Emily Bell, Christopher W. O'Dell, Thomas E. Taylor, Aronne Merrelli, Robert R. Nelson, Matthäus Kiel, Annmarie Eldering, Robert Rosenberg, and Brendan Fisher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 109–133, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-109-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-109-2023, 2023
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A small percentage of data from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument has been shown to have a geometry-related bias in the earliest public data release. This work shows that the bias is due to a complex interplay of aerosols and viewing geometry and is largely mitigated in the latest data version through improved bias correction and quality filtering.
Hiroshi Suto, Fumie Kataoka, Robert O. Knuteson, Kei Shiomi, Nobuhiro Kikuchi, and Akihiko Kuze
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5399–5413, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5399-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5399-2022, 2022
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TANSO-FTS-2 onboard GOSAT-2 has operated nominally since February 2019, and the atmospheric radiance spectra it has acquired have been released to the public. This paper describes an updated model for spectral radiance calibration of TIR and its validation. The multi-satellite sensor and multi-angle comparison results suggest that the spectral radiance for TANSO-FTS-2 TIR, version v210210, is superior to that of the previous version in its consistency of multi-satellite sensor data.
Rory A. Barton-Grimley, Amin R. Nehrir, Susan A. Kooi, James E. Collins, David B. Harper, Anthony Notari, Joseph Lee, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, and Kenneth J. Davis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4623–4650, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4623-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4623-2022, 2022
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HALO is a multi-functional lidar that measures CH4 columns and profiles of H2O mixing ratio and aerosol/cloud optical properties. HALO supports carbon cycle, weather dynamics, and radiation science suborbital research and is a technology testbed for future space-based differential absorption lidar missions. In 2019 HALO collected CH4 columns and aerosol/cloud profiles during the ACT-America campaign. Here we assess HALO's CH4 accuracy and precision compared to co-located in situ observations.
Aaron Pearlman, Monica Cook, Boryana Efremova, Francis Padula, Lok Lamsal, Joel McCorkel, and Joanna Joiner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4489–4501, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4489-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4489-2022, 2022
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NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) constellation is planned to consist of an atmospheric composition instrument (ACX) to support air quality forecasting and monitoring. As design trade-offs are being studied, we investigated one parameter, the polarization sensitivity, which has yet to be fully documented for NO2 retrievals. Our simulation study explores these impacts to inform the ACX’s development and better understand polarization’s role in trace gas retrievals.
Fernando Chouza, Thierry Leblanc, Mark Brewer, Patrick Wang, Giovanni Martucci, Alexander Haefele, Hélène Vérèmes, Valentin Duflot, Guillaume Payen, and Philippe Keckhut
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4241–4256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4241-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4241-2022, 2022
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The comparison of water vapor lidar measurements with co-located radiosondes and aerosol backscatter profiles indicates that laser-induced aerosol fluorescence in smoke layers injected into the stratosphere can introduce very large and chronic wet biases above 15 km, thus impacting the ability of these systems to accurately estimate long-term water vapor trends. The proposed correction method presented in this work is able to reduce this fluorescence-induced bias from 75 % to under 5 %.
Boris D. Belan, Gerard Ancellet, Irina S. Andreeva, Pavel N. Antokhin, Viktoria G. Arshinova, Mikhail Y. Arshinov, Yurii S. Balin, Vladimir E. Barsuk, Sergei B. Belan, Dmitry G. Chernov, Denis K. Davydov, Alexander V. Fofonov, Georgii A. Ivlev, Sergei N. Kotel'nikov, Alexander S. Kozlov, Artem V. Kozlov, Katharine Law, Andrey V. Mikhal'chishin, Igor A. Moseikin, Sergei V. Nasonov, Philippe Nédélec, Olesya V. Okhlopkova, Sergei E. Ol'kin, Mikhail V. Panchenko, Jean-Daniel Paris, Iogannes E. Penner, Igor V. Ptashnik, Tatyana M. Rasskazchikova, Irina K. Reznikova, Oleg A. Romanovskii, Alexander S. Safatov, Denis E. Savkin, Denis V. Simonenkov, Tatyana K. Sklyadneva, Gennadii N. Tolmachev, Semyon V. Yakovlev, and Polina N. Zenkova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3941–3967, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3941-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3941-2022, 2022
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The change of the global climate is most pronounced in the Arctic, where the air temperature increases faster than the global average. This is associated with an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is important to study how the air composition in the Arctic changes in the changing climate. Thus this integrated experiment was carried out to measure the composition of the troposphere in the Russian sector of the Arctic from on board the aircraft laboratory.
Daochun Yu, Haitao Li, Baoquan Li, Mingyu Ge, Youli Tuo, Xiaobo Li, Wangchen Xue, Yaning Liu, Aoying Wang, Yajun Zhu, and Bingxian Luo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3141–3159, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3141-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3141-2022, 2022
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In this work, the measurement of vertical atmospheric density profiles using X-ray Earth occultation is investigated. The Earth’s density profile for the lower thermosphere is obtained with Insight-HXMT. It is shown that the Insight-HXMT X-ray satellite of China can be used as an X-ray atmospheric diagnostics instrument for the upper atmosphere. The Insight-HXMT satellite can, with other X-ray astronomical satellites in orbit, form a network for X-ray Earth occultation sounding in the future.
Jörn Ungermann, Anne Kleinert, Guido Maucher, Irene Bartolomé, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Sören Johansson, Lukas Krasauskas, and Tom Neubert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2503–2530, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2503-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2503-2022, 2022
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GLORIA is a 2-D infrared imaging spectrometer operated on two high-flying research aircraft. This paper details our instrument calibration and characterization efforts, which in particular leverage in-flight data almost exclusively and often exploit the novel 2-D nature of the measurements. We show that the instrument surpasses the original instrument specifications and conclude by analyzing how the derived errors affect temperature and ozone retrievals, two of our main derived quantities.
Carlos Alberti, Frank Hase, Matthias Frey, Darko Dubravica, Thomas Blumenstock, Angelika Dehn, Paolo Castracane, Gregor Surawicz, Roland Harig, Bianca C. Baier, Caroline Bès, Jianrong Bi, Hartmut Boesch, André Butz, Zhaonan Cai, Jia Chen, Sean M. Crowell, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dragos Ene, Jonathan E. Franklin, Omaira García, David Griffith, Bruno Grouiez, Michel Grutter, Abdelhamid Hamdouni, Sander Houweling, Neil Humpage, Nicole Jacobs, Sujong Jeong, Lilian Joly, Nicholas B. Jones, Denis Jouglet, Rigel Kivi, Ralph Kleinschek, Morgan Lopez, Diogo J. Medeiros, Isamu Morino, Nasrin Mostafavipak, Astrid Müller, Hirofumi Ohyama, Paul I. Palmer, Mahesh Pathakoti, David F. Pollard, Uwe Raffalski, Michel Ramonet, Robbie Ramsay, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, William Simpson, Wolfgang Stremme, Youwen Sun, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Yao Té, Gizaw Mengistu Tsidu, Voltaire A. Velazco, Felix Vogel, Masataka Watanabe, Chong Wei, Debra Wunch, Marcia Yamasoe, Lu Zhang, and Johannes Orphal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2433–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2433-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2433-2022, 2022
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Space-borne greenhouse gas missions require ground-based validation networks capable of providing fiducial reference measurements. Here, considerable refinements of the calibration procedures for the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) are presented. Laboratory and solar side-by-side procedures for the characterization of the spectrometers have been refined and extended. Revised calibration factors for XCO2, XCO and XCH4 are provided, incorporating 47 new spectrometers.
David A. Newnham, Mark A. Clilverd, William D. J. Clark, Michael Kosch, Pekka T. Verronen, and Alan E. E. Rogers
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2361–2376, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2361-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2361-2022, 2022
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Ozone (O3) is an important trace gas in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT), affecting heating rates and chemistry. O3 profiles measured by the Ny-Ålesund Ozone in the Mesosphere Instrument agree with Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) for winter night-time, but autumn twilight SABER abundances are up to 50 % higher. O3 abundances in the MLT from two different SABER channels also show significant differences for both autumn twilight and summer daytime.
Luca Egli, Julian Gröbner, Gregor Hülsen, Herbert Schill, and René Stübi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1917–1930, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1917-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1917-2022, 2022
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This study presents traceable total column ozone retrievals from direct solar spectral irradiance measurements. The retrieved ozone does not require any field calibration with a reference instrument as it is required for other operational network instruments such as Brewer or Dobson. Total column ozone can be retrieved with a traceable overall standard uncertainty of less than 0.8 % indicating a benchmark uncertainty for total column ozone measurements.
Yungang Wang, Liping Fu, Fang Jiang, Xiuqing Hu, Chengbao Liu, Xiaoxin Zhang, Jiawei Li, Zhipeng Ren, Fei He, Lingfeng Sun, Ling Sun, Zhongdong Yang, Peng Zhang, Jingsong Wang, and Tian Mao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1577–1586, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1577-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1577-2022, 2022
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Far-ultraviolet (FUV) airglow radiation is particularly well suited for space-based remote sensing. The Ionospheric Photometer (IPM) instrument carried aboard the Feng Yun 3-D satellite measures the spectral radiance of the Earth FUV airglow. IPM is a tiny, highly sensitive, and robust remote sensing instrument. Initial results demonstrate that the performance of IPM meets the designed requirement and therefore can be used to study the thermosphere and ionosphere in the future.
Leon Kuhn, Jonas Kuhn, Thomas Wagner, and Ulrich Platt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1395–1414, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1395-2022, 2022
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We present a novel instrument for imaging measurements of NO2 with high spatiotemporal resolution based on gas correlation spectroscopy, called the GCS NO2 camera. The instrument works by placing two gas cells (cuvettes) in front of two photosensor arrays, one filled with air and one filled with a high concentration of NO2, acting as a non-dispersive spectral filter. NO2 images are then generated on the basis of the signal ratio of the two channels in the spectral region of 430–445 nm.
Tobias Küchler, Stefan Noël, Heinrich Bovensmann, John Philip Burrows, Thomas Wagner, Christian Borger, Tobias Borsdorff, and Andreas Schneider
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 297–320, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-297-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-297-2022, 2022
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We applied the air-mass-corrected differential optical absorption spectroscopy (AMC-DOAS) method to derive total column water vapour (TCWV) from Sentinel-5P measurements and compared it to independent data sets. The correlation coefficients of typically more than 0.9 and the small deviations up to 2.5 kg m−2 reveal good agreement between our data product and other TCWV data sets. In particular for the different Sentinel-5P water vapour products, the deviations are around 1 kg m−2.
Jonas Kuhn, Nicole Bobrowski, Thomas Wagner, and Ulrich Platt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7873–7892, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7873-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7873-2021, 2021
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We propose spectrograph implementations using Fabry–Pérot interferometers for atmospheric trace gas remote sensing. Compared with widely used grating spectrographs, we find substantial light throughput and mobility advantages for high resolving powers. Besides lowering detection limits and increasing the spatial and temporal resolution of many atmospheric trace gas measurements, this approach might enable remote sensing of further important gases such as tropospheric OH radicals.
King-Fai Li, Ryan Khoury, Thomas J. Pongetti, Stanley P. Sander, Franklin P. Mills, and Yuk L. Yung
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7495–7510, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7495-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7495-2021, 2021
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Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) plays a dominant role in the stratospheric ozone-destroying catalytic cycle. We have retrieved the diurnal cycle of NO2 over Table Mountain in Southern California, USA, during a week in October 2018. Under clean conditions, we are able to predict the diurnal cycle using standard photochemistry. On a day with significant pollution, we see the effect of NO2 sources in the nearby Los Angeles Basin.
Ulrich Platt, Thomas Wagner, Jonas Kuhn, and Thomas Leisner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6867–6883, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6867-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6867-2021, 2021
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Absorption spectroscopy of scattered sunlight is extremely useful for the analysis of atmospheric trace gas distributions. A central parameter for the achievable sensitivity of spectroscopic instruments is the light throughput, which can be enhanced in a number of ways. We present new ideas and considerations of how instruments could be optimized. Particular emphasis is on arrays of massively parallel instruments. Such arrays can reduce the size and weight of instruments by orders of magnitude.
Jonas Hamperl, Clément Capitaine, Jean-Baptiste Dherbecourt, Myriam Raybaut, Patrick Chazette, Julien Totems, Bruno Grouiez, Laurence Régalia, Rosa Santagata, Corinne Evesque, Jean-Michel Melkonian, Antoine Godard, Andrew Seidl, Harald Sodemann, and Cyrille Flamant
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6675–6693, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6675-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6675-2021, 2021
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Laser active remote sensing of tropospheric water vapor is a promising technology for enhancing our understanding of processes governing the global hydrological cycle. We investigate the potential of a ground-based lidar to monitor the main water vapor isotopes at high spatio-temporal resolutions in the lower troposphere. Using a realistic end-to-end simulator, we show that high-precision measurements can be achieved within a range of 1.5 km, in mid-latitude or tropical environments.
Qin Wang, Farhan Mustafa, Lingbing Bu, Shouzheng Zhu, Jiqiao Liu, and Weibiao Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6601–6617, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6601-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6601-2021, 2021
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In this work, an airborne experiment was carried out to validate a newly developed CO2 monitoring IPDA lidar against the in situ measurements obtained from a commercial CO2 monitoring instrument installed on an aircraft. The XCO2 values calculated with the IPDA lidar measurements were compared with the dry-air CO2 mole fraction measurements obtained from the in situ instruments, and the results showed a good agreement between the two datasets.
Matthias M. Frey, Frank Hase, Thomas Blumenstock, Darko Dubravica, Jochen Groß, Frank Göttsche, Martin Handjaba, Petrus Amadhila, Roland Mushi, Isamu Morino, Kei Shiomi, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Martine de Mazière, and David F. Pollard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5887–5911, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5887-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5887-2021, 2021
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In this study, we present measurements of carbon dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide from a recently established site in Gobabeb, Namibia. Gobabeb is the first site observing these gases on the African mainland and improves the global coverage of measurement sites. Gobabeb is a hyperarid desert site, offering unique characteristics. Measurements started 2015 as part of the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network. We compare our results with other datasets and find a good agreement.
René Stübi, Herbert Schill, Jörg Klausen, Eliane Maillard Barras, and Alexander Haefele
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5757–5769, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5757-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5757-2021, 2021
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In the first half of the 20th century, Prof. Dobson developed an instrument to measure the ozone column. Around 50 of these Dobson instruments, manufactured in the second half of the 20th century, are still used today to monitor the state of the ozone layer. Started in 1926, the Arosa series was, until recently, based on manually operated Dobsons. To ensure its future operation, a fully automated version of the Dobson has been developed. This well-working automated system is described here.
Timon Hummel, Christian Meister, Corneli Keim, Jasper Krauser, and Mark Wenig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5459–5472, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5459-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5459-2021, 2021
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The impact of heterogeneous scene radiance affects the quality of trace gas retrieval products of Earth observation imaging spectrometers. This effect can be mitigated by introducing on-board hardware solutions called slit homogenizers, which scramble the light entering the instrument and thereby make it insensitive to Earth scene contrast. Here we present a comprehensive modeling of the slit homogenizer present in the Sentinel-5/UVNS instrument and quantify the spectral performance.
Quentin Errera, Emmanuel Dekemper, Noel Baker, Jonas Debosscher, Philippe Demoulin, Nina Mateshvili, Didier Pieroux, Filip Vanhellemont, and Didier Fussen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4737–4753, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4737-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4737-2021, 2021
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ALTIUS is a micro-satellite which will measure the distribution of the ozone layer. Micro-satellites are intended to be cost-effective, but does this make the ALTIUS measurements any less valuable? To answer this, we simulated ALTIUS data and measured how it could constrain a model of the ozone layer; we then compared these results with those obtained from the state-of-the-art NASA Aura MLS satellite ozone measurements. The outcome shows us that the ALTIUS
budgetinstrument is indeed valuable.
Scott M. Spuler, Matthew Hayman, Robert A. Stillwell, Joshua Carnes, Todd Bernatsky, and Kevin S. Repasky
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4593–4616, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4593-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4593-2021, 2021
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Continuous water vapor and temperature profiles are critically needed for improved understanding of the lower atmosphere and potential advances in weather forecasting skill. To address this observation need, an active remote sensing technology based on a diode-laser-based lidar architecture is being developed. We discuss the details of the lidar architecture and analyze how it addresses a national-scale profiling network's need to provide continuous thermodynamic observations.
Bo Galle, Santiago Arellano, Nicole Bobrowski, Vladimir Conde, Tobias P. Fischer, Gustav Gerdes, Alexandra Gutmann, Thorsten Hoffmann, Ima Itikarai, Tomas Krejci, Emma J. Liu, Kila Mulina, Scott Nowicki, Tom Richardson, Julian Rüdiger, Kieran Wood, and Jiazhi Xu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4255–4277, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4255-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4255-2021, 2021
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Measurements of volcanic gases are important for geophysical research, risk assessment and environmental impact studies. Some gases, like SO2 and BrO, may be studied from the ground at a safe distance using remote sensing techniques. Many other gases require in situ access to the gas plume. Here, a drone may be an attractive alternative. This paper describes a drone specially adapted for volcanic gas studies and demonstrates its use in a field campaign at Manam volcano in Papua New Guinea.
Jia Su, M. Patrick McCormick, Matthew S. Johnson, John T. Sullivan, Michael J. Newchurch, Timothy A. Berkoff, Shi Kuang, and Guillaume P. Gronoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4069–4082, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4069-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4069-2021, 2021
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A new technique using a three-wavelength differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique based on an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) laser is proposed to obtain more accurate measurements of NO2. The retrieval uncertainties in aerosol extinction using the three-wavelength DIAL technique are reduced to less than 2 % of those when using the two-wavelength DIAL technique. Hampton University (HU) lidar NO2 profiles are compared with simulated data from the WRF-Chem model, and they agree well.
Carly Staebell, Kang Sun, Jenna Samra, Jonathan Franklin, Christopher Chan Miller, Xiong Liu, Eamon Conway, Kelly Chance, Scott Milligan, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3737–3753, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3737-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3737-2021, 2021
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Given the high global warming potential of CH4, the identification and subsequent reduction of anthropogenic CH4 emissions presents a significant opportunity for climate change mitigation. Satellites are an integral piece of this puzzle, providing data to quantify emissions at a variety of spatial scales. This work presents the spectral calibration of MethaneAIR, the airborne instrument used as a test bed for the forthcoming MethaneSAT satellite.
Marek Šmíd, Geiland Porrovecchio, Jiří Tesař, Tim Burnitt, Luca Egli, Julian Grőbner, Petr Linduška, and Martin Staněk
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3573–3582, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3573-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3573-2021, 2021
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We designed and developed a tuneable and portable radiation source (TuPS) to provide a reference wavelength scale, with a bandwidth of emitted radiation of 0.13 nm and uncertainty in wavelength of 0.02 nm. TuPS was successfully used for the in-field characterization of 14 Dobson spectrophotometers in campaigns in Europe. The line spread functions of Dobsons measured by TuPS in conjunction with the cross-sections from IUP improves the consistency between the Dobson and Brewer from 3 % to 1 %.
Cited articles
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Amediek, A., Ehret, G., Fix, A., Wirth, M., Büdenbender, C., Quatrevalet, M., Kiemle, C., and Gerbig, C.: CHARM-F – a new airborne integrated-path differential-absorption lidar for carbon dioxide and methane observations: measurement performance and quantification of strong point source emissions, Appl. Opt., 56, 5182, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.56.005182, 2017.
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Brandt, A. R., Heath, G. A., and Cooley, D.: Methane Leaks from Natural Gas Systems Follow Extreme Distributions, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 12512–12520, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04303, 2016.
Coddington, I., Newbury, N., and Swann, W.: Dual-comb spectroscopy, Optica, 3, 414–426, https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.3.000414, 2016.
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Executive editor
As the Editor states does this manuscript describe application of long-path absorption spectroscopy to detection of gas leak plumes. The technique uses an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carrying a retroreflector as the endpoint of the absorption path, which allows for rapid discovery of plume location and quantification of plume cross section for emissions rate determination. The technique works at a safe standoff distance and through the use of the UAV doesn't need two fixed end locations. It would be of interest to many seeking to find and quantify gas leaks, which is important for safety and minimizing greenhouse gas and reactive gas emissions.
As the Editor states does this manuscript describe application of long-path absorption...
Short summary
Measurements of the emission rate of a gas or gases from point and area sources are important in a range of monitoring applications. We demonstrate a method for rapid quantification of the emission rate of multiple gases using a spatially scannable open-path sensor. The open-path spectrometer measures the total column density of gases between the spectrometer and a retroreflector mounted on an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV). By scanning the UAV altitude, we can determine the total gas emissions.
Measurements of the emission rate of a gas or gases from point and area sources are important in...
