Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
AMT
Articles | Volume 7, issue 11
Articles | Volume 7, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3623-2014
© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3623-2014
© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Articles | Volume 7, issue 11
Research article
 | 
05 Nov 2014
Research article |  | 05 Nov 2014

The MOPITT Version 6 product: algorithm enhancements and validation

M. N. Deeter, S. Martínez-Alonso, D. P. Edwards, L. K. Emmons, J. C. Gille, H. M. Worden, C. Sweeney, J. V. Pittman, B. C. Daube, and S. C. Wofsy

Abstract. The Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) Version 6 (V6) product for carbon monoxide (CO) incorporates several enhancements which will benefit many users of MOPITT data. V6 algorithm improvements are described in detail, and V6 validation results are presented. First, a geolocation bias related to the orientation of the MOPITT instrument relative to the TERRA platform was characterized and eliminated. Second, the variable a priori for CO concentrations for V6 is based on simulations performed with the chemical transport model Community Atmosphere Model with Chemistry (CAM-chem) for the years 2000–2009 instead of the model-derived climatology for 1997–2004 used for V5. Third, meteorological fields required for V6 retrieval processing are extracted from the MERRA (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis For Research And Applications) reanalysis. Finally, a significant latitude-dependent retrieval bias in the upper troposphere in Version 5 products has been substantially reduced.

How to cite. Deeter, M. N., Martínez-Alonso, S., Edwards, D. P., Emmons, L. K., Gille, J. C., Worden, H. M., Sweeney, C., Pittman, J. V., Daube, B. C., and Wofsy, S. C.: The MOPITT Version 6 product: algorithm enhancements and validation, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3623–3632, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3623-2014, 2014.
Received: 15 May 2014 – Discussion started: 18 Jun 2014 – Revised: 11 Sep 2014 – Accepted: 26 Sep 2014 – Published: 05 Nov 2014
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Short summary
The MOPITT Version 6 product for carbon monoxide (CO) incorporates several enhancements. First, a geolocation bias has been eliminated. Second, the new variable a priori for CO concentrations is based on simulations performed with the CAM-Chem chemical transport model for the years 2000-2009. Third, required meteorological fields are extracted from the MERRA reanalysis. Finally, a retrieval bias in the upper troposphere was substantially reduced. Validation results are presented.
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