Improvements in aerosol layer height retrievals from TROPOMI oxygen A-band measurements by surface albedo fitting in optimal estimation

de Graaf, Martin; Sneep, Maarten; ter Linden, Mark; Tilstra, L. Gijsbert; Donovan, David P.; van Zadelhoff, Gerd-Jan; Veefkind, J. Pepijn

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2553-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

Research article

|

16 Jun 2025

Research article |

| 16 Jun 2025

Improvements in aerosol layer height retrievals from TROPOMI oxygen A-band measurements by surface albedo fitting in optimal estimation

Martin de Graaf, Maarten Sneep, Mark ter Linden, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, David P. Donovan, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, and J. Pepijn Veefkind

Data sets

CALIPSO Lidar Level 1B profile data, V4-51 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/CAL_LID_L1-Standard-V4-51

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 Aerosol Profile, V4-51 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Standard-V4-51

Short summary

The aerosol layer height (ALH) from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) has been constantly improved since its release in 2019. Over bright surfaces, fitting the albedo improved the retrieval, as shown for a set of situations, ranging from multiple layers of smoke to thick desert dust plumes and low-altitude industrial pollution. The latest results of the operational ALH are compared to profiles from the ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID) on board the recently launched EarthCARE mission.