Articles | Volume 24, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
30 Aug 2024
Research article |
| 30 Aug 2024
| 30 Aug 2024
Evaluation of total column water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses within the GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment
Earth Observation Science/National Centre for Earth Observation, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Marc Schröder
Satellite-Based Climate Monitoring, Deutscher Wetterdienst, Offenbach, Germany
Shu-Peng Ho
NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740-3818, USA
Steffen Beirle
Satellite Remote Sensing Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Ralf Bennartz
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
Eva Borbas
Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, WI, USA
Christian Borger
ECMWF, Robert-Schuman-Platz 3, 53175 Bonn, Germany
Satellite Remote Sensing Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Helene Brogniez
Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, CNRS, LSCE/IPSL, 78280, Guyancourt, France
Xavier Calbet
AEMET, C/Leonardo Prieto Castro, 8, Ciudad Universitaria, 28071 Madrid, Spain
Elisa Castelli
CNR-ISAC, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
Gilbert P. Compo
CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Physical Sciences Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, CO, USA
Wesley Ebisuzaki
NOAA/NCEP/CPC, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740-3818, USA
Ulrike Falk
ECMWF, Robert-Schuman-Platz 3, 53175 Bonn, Germany
Frank Fell
Informus GmbH, 13187 Berlin, Germany
John Forsythe
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Hans Hersbach
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK
Misako Kachi
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tsukuba, Japan
Shinya Kobayashi
Numerical Prediction Development Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Tsukuba, Japan
Robert E. Kursinski
PlanetiQ, 15000 West 6th Avenue, Suite 202, Golden, CO 80041, USA
Diego Loyola
Remote Sensing Technology Institute, German Aerospace Center, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Zhengzao Luo
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City University of New York, City College, New York, NY 10031, USA
Johannes K. Nielsen
Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Enzo Papandrea
National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), Via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
Laurence Picon
LMD/IPSL, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Paris, France
Rene Preusker
Freie Universität Berlin, Kaiserswerther Str. 16–18, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Anthony Reale
NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740-3818, USA
Lei Shi
NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI, Asheville, NC, USA
Laura Slivinski
NOAA/OAR/PSL, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Joao Teixeira
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Tom Vonder Haar
Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Thomas Wagner
Satellite Remote Sensing Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Related authors
Christopher Johannes Diekmann, Matthias Schneider, Peter Knippertz, Tim Trent, Hartmut Boesch, Amelie Ninja Roehling, John Worden, Benjamin Ertl, Farahnaz Khosrawi, and Frank Hase
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5409–5431, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5409-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5409-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The West African Monsoon is the main source of rainfall over West Africa, and understanding the development of the monsoon remains challenging due to complex interactions of atmospheric processes. We make use of new satellite datasets of isotopes in tropospheric water vapour to characterize processes controlling the monsoon convection. We find that comparing different water vapour isotopes reveals effects of rain–vapour interactions and air mass transport.
Tim Trent, Richard Siddans, Brian Kerridge, Marc Schröder, Noëlle A. Scott, and John Remedios
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1503–1526, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1503-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Modern weather satellites provide essential information on our lower atmosphere's moisture content and temperature structure. This measurement record will span over 40 years, making it a valuable resource for climate studies. This study characterizes atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles from a European Space Agency climate project. Using weather balloon measurements, we demonstrated the performance of this dataset was within the tolerances required for future climate studies.
Marloes Gutenstein, Karsten Fennig, Marc Schröder, Tim Trent, Stephan Bakan, J. Brent Roberts, and Franklin R. Robertson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 121–146, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-121-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-121-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The net exchange of water between the surface and atmosphere is mainly determined by the freshwater flux: the difference between evaporation (E) and precipitation (P), or E−P. Although there is consensus among modelers that with a warming climate E−P will increase, evidence from satellite data is still not conclusive, mainly due to sensor calibration issues. We here investigate the degree of correspondence among six recent
satellite-based climate data records and ERA5 reanalysis E−P data.
Nils Madenach, Florian Tornow, Howard Barker, Rene Preusker, and Jürgen Fischer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1439, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
In this study clouds fields with different macro- and microphysical properties are generated and used to simulate the top of atmosphere short wave radiances and fluxes. The fluxes are compared to two radiance-to-irradiance conversion approaches. Especially for viewing angles in the backscattering direction the approach that is aware of the cloud microphysics results in better flux estimates.
Hannes Konrad, Rémy Roca, Anja Niedorf, Stephan Finkensieper, Marc Schröder, Sophie Cloché, Giulia Panegrossi, Paolo Sanò, Christopher Kidd, Rômulo Augusto Jucá Oliveira, Karsten Fennig, Thomas Sikorski, Madeleine Lemoine, and Rainer Hollmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 4097–4124, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4097-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4097-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
GIRAFE v1 is a global satellite-based precipitation dataset covering 2002 to 2022. It combines high-accuracy microwave and high-resolution infrared observations for retrieving daily precipitation, a respective sampling uncertainty for a more robust analysis, and monthly means. It is intended and suitable for climate monitoring and research and allows studies on water management, agriculture, and disaster risk reduction. A continuous extension from 2023 onwards will be implemented in 2025.
Martina Taddia, Federico Fabiano, Stefano Della Fera, Elisa Castelli, and Bianca Maria Dinelli
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3750, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3750, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
The time relationship between the energy emitted by the Earth system across the thermal infrared spectral region (also known as Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR)) and El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), shows important contribution from stratospheric temperature and ozone changes. The peak of the radiative response is wavenumber-dependent, this makes this analysis particularly suitable for climate models evaluations.
Robert James Duncan Spurr, Matt Christi, Nickolay Anatoly Krotkov, Won-Ei Choi, Simon Carn, Can Li, Natalya Kramarova, David Haffner, Eun-Su Yang, Nick Gorkavyi, Alexander Vasilkov, Krzysztof Wargan, Omar Torres, Diego Loyola, Serena Di Pede, Joris Pepijn Veefkind, and Pawan Kumar Bhartia
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2938, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2938, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
An eruption of the submarine Hunga volcano injected a massive plume of water vapor, sulfur dioxide and aerosols into the Southern tropical stratosphere. The high-altitude Hunga aerosol plume showed up as strongly enhanced solar backscattered ultraviolet (BUV) radiation compromising satellite BUV ozone retrievals. In this paper, we have developed a new technique to retrieve the aerosol amount and height, based on satellite solar BUV radiances from the TROPOMI and OMPS nadir profiler instruments.
Gaia Pinardi, Martina M. Friedrich, Corinne Vigouroux, Bavo Langerock, Isabelle De Smedt, Caroline Fayt, Christian Hermans, Steffen Beirle, Thomas Wagner, Minqiang Zhou, Ting Wang, Pucai Wang, Martine De Mazière, and Michel Van Roozendael
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3320, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3320, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
MultiAXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy, direct sun DOAS, and Fourier Transform InfraRed are key for formaldehyde satellite validation. We show a -20% bias for MAX-DOAS vertical column data versus direct sun UV and IR measurement at Xianghe, China. Adjustments for vertical sensitivities and a priori profiles reduce differences to less than 2.5%. Using chemical transport models as a priori further decreases the bias, indicating possible improvements for current MAX-DOAS retrievals.
Andrea Storto, Sergey Frolov, Laura Slivinski, and Chunxue Yang
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4789–4804, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4789-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4789-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Inaccuracies in air–sea heat fluxes severely degrade the accuracy of ocean numerical simulations. Here, we use artificial neural networks to correct air–sea heat fluxes as a function of oceanic and atmospheric state predictors. The correction successfully improves surface and subsurface ocean temperatures beyond the training period and in prediction experiments.
Bianca Lauster, Udo Frieß, Jan-Marcus Nasse, Ulrich Platt, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3393–3405, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3393-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3393-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Remote sensing measurements of scattered sunlight use the atmospheric absorption of O2–O2 (or O4) to derive cloud and aerosol properties. However, inconsistencies between measurements and radiative transfer simulations were found recently, and, so far, there has been no consensus on how to deal with these appropriately. In this study, long-term long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) observations were analysed and very good agreement with laboratory measurements was found.
Carlo Arosio, Viktoria Sofieva, Andrea Orfanoz-Cheuquelaf, Alexei Rozanov, Klaus-Peter Heue, Diego Loyola, Edward Malina, Ryan M. Stauffer, David Tarasick, Roeland Van Malderen, Jerry R. Ziemke, and Mark Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3247–3265, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3247-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3247-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Tropospheric ozone affects air quality and climate, being a pollutant and a greenhouse gas. We analyze satellite data of tropospheric ozone columns obtained by combining two types of observations: one providing stratospheric and the other total ozone. We compare common climatological features and study the influence of the tropopause (troposphere to stratosphere boundary) on the results. We also examine trends over the last 20 years and compare satellite data with ozonesondes to identify drifts.
África Barreto, Francisco Quirós, Omaira E. García, Jorge Pereda-de-Pablo, Daniel González-Fernández, Andrés Bedoya-Velásquez, Michael Sicard, Carmen Córdoba-Jabonero, Marco Iarlori, Vincenzo Rizi, Nickolay Krotkov, Simon Carn, Reijo Roininen, Antonio J. Molina-Arias, A. Fernando Almansa, Óscar Álvarez-Losada, Carla Aramo, Juan José Bustos, Romain Ceolato, Adolfo Comerón, Alicia Felpeto, Rosa D. García, Pablo González-Sicilia, Yenny González, Pascal Hedelt, Miguel Hernández, María-Ángeles López-Cayuela, Diego Loyola, Stavros Meletlidis, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Ermanno Pietropaolo, Ramón Ramos, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Roberto Román, Pedro M. Romero-Campos, Martin Stuefer, Carlos Toledano, and Elsworth Welton
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3164, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3164, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
This manuscript describes the instrumental coverage deployed during the Tajogaite eruption (19 September–25 December 2021) by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), and other Spanish members of ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) to monitor its atmospheric impact. Two complementary methods provide consistent plume height data for future operational surveillance.
Masatomo Fujiwara, Bomin Sun, Anthony Reale, Domenico Cimini, Salvatore Larosa, Lori Borg, Christoph von Rohden, Michael Sommer, Ruud Dirksen, Marion Maturilli, Holger Vömel, Rigel Kivi, Bruce Ingleby, Ryan J. Kramer, Belay Demoz, Fabio Madonna, Fabien Carminati, Owen Lewis, Brett Candy, Christopher Thomas, David Edwards, Noersomadi, Kensaku Shimizu, and Peter Thorne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2919–2955, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2919-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2919-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We assess and illustrate the benefits of high-altitude attainment of balloon-borne radiosonde soundings up to and beyond 10 hPa level from various aspects. We show that the extra costs and technical challenges involved in consistent attainment of high ascents are more than outweighed by the benefits for a broad variety of real-time and delayed-mode applications. Consistent attainment of high ascents should therefore be pursued across the balloon observational network.
Matthias Kohl, Christoph Brühl, Jennifer Schallock, Holger Tost, Patrick Jöckel, Adrian Jost, Steffen Beirle, Michael Höpfner, and Andrea Pozzer
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 3985–4007, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3985-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3985-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
SO2 from explosive volcanic eruptions reaching the stratosphere can oxidize and form sulfur aerosols, potentially persisting for several years. We developed a new submodel, Explosive Volcanic ERuptions (EVER), that seamlessly includes stratospheric volcanic SO2 emissions in global numerical simulations based on a novel standard historical model setup, successfully evaluated with satellite observations. Sensitivity studies on the Nabro eruption in 2011 evaluate different emission methods.
Christopher Johannes Diekmann, Matthias Schneider, Peter Knippertz, Tim Trent, Hartmut Boesch, Amelie Ninja Roehling, John Worden, Benjamin Ertl, Farahnaz Khosrawi, and Frank Hase
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5409–5431, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5409-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5409-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The West African Monsoon is the main source of rainfall over West Africa, and understanding the development of the monsoon remains challenging due to complex interactions of atmospheric processes. We make use of new satellite datasets of isotopes in tropospheric water vapour to characterize processes controlling the monsoon convection. We find that comparing different water vapour isotopes reveals effects of rain–vapour interactions and air mass transport.
Pierre Gramme, Cedric Busschots, Emmanuel Dekemper, Didier Pieroux, Noel C. Baker, Stefano Casadio, Anna Maria lannarelli, Nicola Ferrante, Annalisa Di Bernardino, Paolo Pettinari, Elisa Castelli, Luca di Liberto, and Francesco Cairo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2255, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2255, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new remote sensing instrument using hyperspectral imaging to observe the variability in space and time of the nitrogen dioxide concentration. We also show the results of its validation campaign in a challenging urban setting in Rome, showing very good agreement with two reference instruments. Having an imaging instrument rather than the currently state-of-the-art unidirectional spectrometers brings promising capability in the context of satellite products validation.
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 M. Cede, Martin Tiefengraber, Alexis Merlaud, Martina M. 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., 18, 1561–1589, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1561-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1561-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We developed an advanced algorithm for global retrieval of TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) HCHO and NO2 vertical column densities with much improved consistency. Sensitivity tests demonstrate the complexity and nonlinear interactions of auxiliary parameters in the air mass factor calculation. An improved agreement is found with measurements from a global ground-based instrument network. The scientific retrieval provides a useful source of information for studies combining HCHO and NO2.
Gaël Kermarrec, Xavier Calbet, Zhiguo Deng, and Cintia Carbajal Henken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3567–3581, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3567-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3567-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric delays affect global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals. This study analyses the wet delay, a variable component caused by atmospheric water vapor, using a novel filtering method to examine small-scale turbulent variations. Case studies at five global stations revealed daily and seasonal turbulence patterns. This research will improve water vapour and cloud models, enhance nowcasting, and refine stochastic modelling for GNSS and very long baseline interferometry.
Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Diego G. Loyola, Barry Latter, Richard Siddans, Brian Kerridge, Daan Hubert, Michel van Roozendael, and Michael Eisinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-196, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
The GOME-type Ozone Profile Essential Climate Variable (GOP-ECV) data record provides monthly mean ozone profiles with global coverage from 1995 to 2021 at a spatial resolution of 5°x5°. Measurements from five nadir-viewing satellite sensors are first harmonized and then merged into a coherent record. The long-term stability of the data record is further improved through scaling of the profiles using as a reference the GOME-type Total Ozone Essential Climate Variable (GTO-ECV) data record.
Arno Keppens, Daan Hubert, José Granville, Oindrila Nath, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Catherine Wespes, Pierre-François Coheur, Cathy Clerbaux, Anne Boynard, Richard Siddans, Barry Latter, Brian Kerridge, Serena Di Pede, Pepijn Veefkind, Juan Cuesta, Gaelle Dufour, Klaus-Peter Heue, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Diego Loyola, Andrea Orfanoz-Cheuquelaf, Swathi Maratt Satheesan, Kai-Uwe Eichmann, Alexei Rozanov, Viktoria F. Sofieva, Jerald R. Ziemke, Antje Inness, Roeland Van Malderen, and Lars Hoffmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3746, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3746, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The first Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR) encountered discrepancies between several satellite sensors’ estimates of the distribution and change of ozone in the free troposphere. Therefore, contributing to the second TOAR, we harmonise as much as possible the observational perspective of sixteen tropospheric ozone products from satellites. This only partially accounts for the observed discrepancies, with a reduction of 10–40 % of the inter-product dispersion upon harmonisation.
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
Short summary
The 2021 volcanic eruption of Tajogaite on La Palma is investigated using ground-based and satellite measurements. In addition, the atmospheric transport of the volcanic cloud towards Europe is studied in detail. The amount of SO2 released during the eruption and the height of the volcanic plume are in excellent agreement among the different measurements. Furthermore, volcanic aerosol microphysical properties could be retrieved using a new retrieval approach based on lidar measurements.
Chengxin Zhang, Xinhan Niu, Hongyu Wu, Zhipeng Ding, Ka Lok Chan, Jhoon Kim, Thomas Wagner, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 759–770, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-759-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-759-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This research utilizes hourly air pollution observations from the world’s first geostationary satellite to develop a spatiotemporal neural network model for full-coverage surface NO2 pollution prediction over the next 24 hours, achieving outstanding forecasting performance and efficacy. These results highlight the profound impact of geostationary satellite observations in advancing air quality forecasting models, thereby contributing to future models for health exposure to air pollution.
Cedric Gacial Ngoungue Langue, Helene Brogniez, and Philippe Naveau
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3481, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3481, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
This work evaluates the representation of total column water vapor and total cloud cover in General Circulation Models, ERA5 reanalysis and satellite data records from the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative. A new technique, called "multiresolution analysis," is applied to this evaluation, which enables an analysis of model behavior across different temporal frequencies, from daily to decadal scales, including subseasonal and seasonal variations.
Jan El Kassar, Cintia Carbajal Henken, Xavier Calbet, Pilar Rípodas, Rene Preusker, and Jürgen Fischer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3605, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3605, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Water vapour is a key ingredient in virtually all meteorological processes. We present an algorithm which uses observations of the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) to estimate the total column of water vapour over sun-lit, clear-sky pixels. FCI is a satellite instrument and every 10 minutes it takes an image which covers Europe, Africa and the Atlantic with a resolution of 1 km. Such high resolution water vapour fields will provide valuable information for weather forecasters and researchers.
Uwe Pfeifroth, Jaqueline Drücke, Steffen Kothe, Jörg Trentmann, Marc Schröder, and Rainer Hollmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5243–5265, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5243-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5243-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The energy reaching Earth's surface from the Sun is a quantity of great importance for the climate system and for many applications. SARAH-3 is a satellite-based climate data record of surface solar radiation parameters. It is generated and distributed by the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM SAF). SARAH-3 covers more than 4 decades and provides a high spatial and temporal resolution, and its validation shows good accuracy and stability.
Leon Kuhn, Steffen Beirle, Sergey Osipov, Andrea Pozzer, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6485–6516, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6485-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6485-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new machine learning model that allows us to compute NO2 concentration profiles from satellite observations. A neural network was trained on synthetic data from the regional chemistry and transport model WRF-Chem. This is the first model of its kind. We present a thorough model validation study, covering various seasons and regions of the world.
Athina Argyrouli, Diego Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Ronny Lutz, Víctor Molina García, Pascal Hedelt, Klaus-Peter Heue, and Richard Siddans
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6345–6367, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6345-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6345-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a new treatment of the spatial misregistration of cloud properties for Sentinel-5 Precursor, when the footprints of different spectral bands are not perfectly aligned. The methodology exploits synergies between spectrometers and imagers, like TROPOMI and VIIRS. The largest improvements have been identified for heterogeneous scenes at cloud edges. This approach is generic and can also be applied to future Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 instruments.
Kezia Lange, Andreas Richter, Tim Bösch, Bianca Zilker, Miriam Latsch, Lisa K. Behrens, Chisom M. Okafor, Hartmut Bösch, John P. Burrows, Alexis Merlaud, Gaia Pinardi, Caroline Fayt, Martina M. Friedrich, Ermioni Dimitropoulou, Michel Van Roozendael, Steffen Ziegler, Simona Ripperger-Lukosiunaite, Leon Kuhn, Bianca Lauster, Thomas Wagner, Hyunkee Hong, Donghee Kim, Lim-Seok Chang, Kangho Bae, Chang-Keun Song, Jong-Uk Park, and Hanlim Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6315–6344, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6315-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6315-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Instruments for air quality observations on geostationary satellites provide multiple observations per day and allow for the analysis of the diurnal variation of important air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over large areas. The South Korean instrument GEMS, launched in February 2020, is the first instrument in geostationary orbit and covers a large part of Asia. Our investigations show the observed diurnal evolution of NO2 at different measurement sites.
Sora Seo, Pieter Valks, Ronny Lutz, Klaus-Peter Heue, Pascal Hedelt, Víctor Molina García, Diego Loyola, Hanlim Lee, and Jhoon Kim
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6163–6191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6163-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6163-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we developed an advanced retrieval algorithm for tropospheric NO2 columns from geostationary satellite spectrometers and applied it to GEMS measurements. The DLR GEMS NO2 retrieval algorithm follows the heritage from previous and existing algorithms, but improved approaches are applied to reflect the specific features of geostationary satellites. The DLR GEMS NO2 retrievals demonstrate a good capability for monitoring diurnal variability with a high spatial resolution.
Steffen Beirle and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3439–3453, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3439-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3439-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method for estimating emissions and lifetimes for nitrogen oxides emitted from large cities by using satellite NO2 observations combined with wind fields. The estimate is based on the simultaneous evaluation of the downwind plumes for opposing wind directions. This allows us to derive seasonal mean emissions and lifetimes for 100 cities around the globe.
João Teixeira, R. Chris Wilson, and Heidar Th. Thrastarson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6375–6383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6375-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6375-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents direct evidence from space (solely based on observations) that CO2 increase leads to the theoretically expected effects on longwave spectral radiances. This is achieved by using a methodology that allows us to isolate the CO2 effects from the temperature and water vapor effects. By searching for ensembles of temperature and water vapor profiles that are similar to each other but have different values of CO2, it is possible to estimate the direct effects of CO2 on the spectra.
Nicole Docter, Anja Hünerbein, David P. Donovan, Rene Preusker, Jürgen Fischer, Jan Fokke Meirink, Piet Stammes, and Michael Eisinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2507–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2507-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2507-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
MSI is the imaging spectrometer on board EarthCARE and will provide across-track information on clouds and aerosol properties. The MSI solar channels exhibit a spectral misalignment effect (SMILE) in the measurements. This paper describes and evaluates how the SMILE will affect the cloud and aerosol retrievals that do not account for it.
Fei Liu, Steffen Beirle, Joanna Joiner, Sungyeon Choi, Zhining Tao, K. Emma Knowland, Steven J. Smith, Daniel Q. Tong, Siqi Ma, Zachary T. Fasnacht, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3717–3728, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3717-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3717-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using satellite data, we developed a coupled method independent of the chemical transport model to map NOx emissions across US cities. After validating our technique with synthetic data, we charted NOx emissions from 2018–2021 in 39 cities. Our results closely matched EPA estimates but also highlighted some inconsistencies in both magnitude and spatial distribution. This research can help refine strategies for monitoring and managing air quality.
Thomas Wagner and Jānis Puķīte
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 277–297, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-277-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a radiance calibration method based on the comparison of measurements and radiative transfer simulations of the zenith-scattered sun radiance during twilight. Cloud-free conditions are required. The method can be applied to measurements in the filed, and no laboratory measurements are required. The accuracy is estimated to range from about 4 % at 340 nm to about 10 % at 700 nm.
Glenn-Michael Oomen, Jean-François Müller, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Isabelle De Smedt, Thomas Blumenstock, Rigel Kivi, Maria Makarova, Mathias Palm, Amelie Röhling, Yao Té, Corinne Vigouroux, Martina M. Friedrich, Udo Frieß, François Hendrick, Alexis Merlaud, Ankie Piters, Andreas Richter, Michel Van Roozendael, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 449–474, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-449-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-449-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Natural emissions from vegetation have a profound impact on air quality for their role in the formation of harmful tropospheric ozone and organic aerosols, yet these emissions are highly uncertain. In this study, we quantify emissions of organic gases over Europe using high-quality satellite measurements of formaldehyde. These satellite observations suggest that emissions from vegetation are much higher than predicted by models, especially in southern Europe.
Leon Kuhn, Steffen Beirle, Vinod Kumar, Sergey Osipov, Andrea Pozzer, Tim Bösch, Rajesh Kumar, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 185–217, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-185-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-185-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
NO₂ is an important air pollutant. It was observed that the WRF-Chem model shows significant deviations in NO₂ abundance when compared to measurements. We use a 1-month simulation over central Europe to show that these deviations can be mostly resolved by reparameterization of the vertical mixing routine. In order to validate our results, they are compared to in situ, satellite, and MAX-DOAS measurements.
Nikos Benas, Irina Solodovnik, Martin Stengel, Imke Hüser, Karl-Göran Karlsson, Nina Håkansson, Erik Johansson, Salomon Eliasson, Marc Schröder, Rainer Hollmann, and Jan Fokke Meirink
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5153–5170, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5153-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes CLAAS-3, the third edition of the Cloud property dAtAset using SEVIRI, which was created based on observations from geostationary Meteosat satellites. CLAAS-3 cloud properties are evaluated using a variety of reference datasets, with very good overall results. The demonstrated quality of CLAAS-3 ensures its usefulness in a wide range of applications, including studies of local- to continental-scale cloud processes and evaluation of climate models.
Simon Warnach, Holger Sihler, Christian Borger, Nicole Bobrowski, Steffen Beirle, Ulrich Platt, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5537–5573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5537-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5537-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
BrO inside volcanic gas plumes but can be used in combination with SO2 to characterize the volcanic property and its activity state. High-quality satellite observations can provide a global inventory of this important quantity. This paper investigates how to accurately detect BrO inside volcanic plumes from the satellite UV spectrum. A sophisticated novel non-volcanic background correction scheme is presented, and systematic errors including cross-interference with formaldehyde are minimized.
Xi Shao, Shu-Peng Ho, Xin Jing, Xinjia Zhou, Yong Chen, Tung-Chang Liu, Bin Zhang, and Jun Dong
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14187–14218, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14187-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14187-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric water vapor plays an essential role in the global energy balance, hydrological cycle, and climate system. This paper characterizes and compares the global, latitudinal, and regional variabilities of COSMIC and ERA5 water vapor distribution, as well as the seasonality and long-term trends at selected pressure levels from 2007 to 2018. Evaluation of spatiotemporal variabilities of atmospheric water vapor ensures the qualities of COSMIC and reanalysis water vapor for climate studies.
Karl-Göran Karlsson, Martin Stengel, Jan Fokke Meirink, Aku Riihelä, Jörg Trentmann, Tom Akkermans, Diana Stein, Abhay Devasthale, Salomon Eliasson, Erik Johansson, Nina Håkansson, Irina Solodovnik, Nikos Benas, Nicolas Clerbaux, Nathalie Selbach, Marc Schröder, and Rainer Hollmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4901–4926, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4901-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4901-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a global climate data record on cloud parameters, radiation at the surface and at the top of atmosphere, and surface albedo. The temporal coverage is 1979–2020 (42 years) and the data record is also continuously updated until present time. Thus, more than four decades of climate parameters are provided. Based on CLARA-A3, studies on distribution of clouds and radiation parameters can be made and, especially, investigations of climate trends and evaluation of climate models.
Yuhang Zhang, Jintai Lin, Jhoon Kim, Hanlim Lee, Junsung Park, Hyunkee Hong, Michel Van Roozendael, Francois Hendrick, Ting Wang, Pucai Wang, Qin He, Kai Qin, Yongjoo Choi, Yugo Kanaya, Jin Xu, Pinhua Xie, Xin Tian, Sanbao Zhang, Shanshan Wang, Siyang Cheng, Xinghong Cheng, Jianzhong Ma, Thomas Wagner, Robert Spurr, Lulu Chen, Hao Kong, and Mengyao Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4643–4665, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4643-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4643-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our tropospheric NO2 vertical column density product with high spatiotemporal resolution is based on the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and named POMINO–GEMS. Strong hotspot signals and NO2 diurnal variations are clearly seen. Validations with multiple satellite products and ground-based, mobile car and surface measurements exhibit the overall great performance of the POMINO–GEMS product, indicating its capability for application in environmental studies.
Herizo Narivelo, Paul David Hamer, Virginie Marécal, Luke Surl, Tjarda Roberts, Sophie Pelletier, Béatrice Josse, Jonathan Guth, Mickaël Bacles, Simon Warnach, Thomas Wagner, Stefano Corradini, Giuseppe Salerno, and Lorenzo Guerrieri
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10533–10561, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10533-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10533-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Volcanic emissions emit large quantities of gases and primary aerosols that can play an important role in atmospheric chemistry. We present a study of the fate of volcanic bromine emissions from the eruption of Mount Etna around Christmas 2018. Using a numerical model and satellite observations, we analyse the impact of the volcanic plume and how it modifies the composition of the air over the whole Mediterranean basin, in particular on tropospheric ozone through the bromine-explosion cycle.
Philippe Massicotte, Marcel Babin, Frank Fell, Vincent Fournier-Sicre, and David Doxaran
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3529–3545, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3529-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3529-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The COASTlOOC oceanographic expeditions in 1997 and 1998 studied the relationship between seawater properties and biology and chemistry across the European coasts. The team collected data from 379 stations using ships and helicopters to support the development of ocean color remote-sensing algorithms. This unique and consistent dataset is still used today by researchers.
Steffen Beirle, Christian Borger, Adrian Jost, and Thomas Wagner
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3051–3073, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3051-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3051-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a catalog of nitrogen oxide emissions from point sources (like power plants or metal smelters) based on satellite observations of NO2 combined with meteorological wind fields.
Christian Borger, Steffen Beirle, and Thomas Wagner
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3023–3049, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3023-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3023-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a long-term data set of monthly mean total column water vapour (TCWV) based on measurements of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) covering the time range from January 2005 to December 2020. We describe how the TCWV values are retrieved from UV–Vis satellite spectra and demonstrate that the OMI TCWV data set is in good agreement with various different reference data sets. Moreover, we also show that it fulfills typical stability requirements for climate data records.
Nicole Docter, Rene Preusker, Florian Filipitsch, Lena Kritten, Franziska Schmidt, and Jürgen Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3437–3457, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3437-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3437-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We describe the stand-alone retrieval algorithm used to derive aerosol properties relying on measurements of the Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) aboard the upcoming Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite. This aerosol data product will be available as M-AOT after the launch of EarthCARE. Additionally, we applied the algorithm to simulated EarthCARE MSI and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data for prelaunch algorithm verification.
Lena Katharina Jänicke, Rene Preusker, Marco Celesti, Marin Tudoroiu, Jürgen Fischer, Dirk Schüttemeyer, and Matthias Drusch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3101–3121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3101-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3101-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To compare two top-of-atmosphere radiances measured by instruments with different spectral characteristics, a transfer function has been developed. It is applied to a tandem data set of Sentinel-3A and B, for which OLCI-B mimicked the ESA’s eighth Earth Explorer FLEX. We found that OLCI-A measured radiances about 2 % brighter than OLCI-FLEX. Only at larger wavelengths were OLCI-A measurements about 5 % darker. The method is thus successful, being sensitive to calibration and processing issues.
Ka Lok Chan, Pieter Valks, Klaus-Peter Heue, Ronny Lutz, Pascal Hedelt, Diego Loyola, Gaia Pinardi, Michel Van Roozendael, François Hendrick, Thomas Wagner, Vinod Kumar, Alkis Bais, Ankie Piters, Hitoshi Irie, Hisahiro Takashima, Yugo Kanaya, Yongjoo Choi, Kihong Park, Jihyo Chong, Alexander Cede, Udo Frieß, Andreas Richter, Jianzhong Ma, Nuria Benavent, Robert Holla, Oleg Postylyakov, Claudia Rivera Cárdenas, and Mark Wenig
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1831–1870, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1831-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1831-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents the theoretical basis as well as verification and validation of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) daily and monthly level-3 products.
Ed Hawkins, Philip Brohan, Samantha N. Burgess, Stephen Burt, Gilbert P. Compo, Suzanne L. Gray, Ivan D. Haigh, Hans Hersbach, Kiki Kuijjer, Oscar Martínez-Alvarado, Chesley McColl, Andrew P. Schurer, Laura Slivinski, and Joanne Williams
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1465–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1465-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We examine a severe windstorm that occurred in February 1903 and caused significant damage in the UK and Ireland. Using newly digitized weather observations from the time of the storm, combined with a modern weather forecast model, allows us to determine why this storm caused so much damage. We demonstrate that the event is one of the most severe windstorms to affect this region since detailed records began. The approach establishes a new tool to improve assessments of risk from extreme weather.
Martine Lizotte, Bennet Juhls, Atsushi Matsuoka, Philippe Massicotte, Gaëlle Mével, David Obie James Anikina, Sofia Antonova, Guislain Bécu, Marine Béguin, Simon Bélanger, Thomas Bossé-Demers, Lisa Bröder, Flavienne Bruyant, Gwénaëlle Chaillou, Jérôme Comte, Raoul-Marie Couture, Emmanuel Devred, Gabrièle Deslongchamps, Thibaud Dezutter, Miles Dillon, David Doxaran, Aude Flamand, Frank Fell, Joannie Ferland, Marie-Hélène Forget, Michael Fritz, Thomas J. Gordon, Caroline Guilmette, Andrea Hilborn, Rachel Hussherr, Charlotte Irish, Fabien Joux, Lauren Kipp, Audrey Laberge-Carignan, Hugues Lantuit, Edouard Leymarie, Antonio Mannino, Juliette Maury, Paul Overduin, Laurent Oziel, Colin Stedmon, Crystal Thomas, Lucas Tisserand, Jean-Éric Tremblay, Jorien Vonk, Dustin Whalen, and Marcel Babin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1617–1653, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1617-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1617-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Permafrost thaw in the Mackenzie Delta region results in the release of organic matter into the coastal marine environment. What happens to this carbon-rich organic matter as it transits along the fresh to salty aquatic environments is still underdocumented. Four expeditions were conducted from April to September 2019 in the coastal area of the Beaufort Sea to study the fate of organic matter. This paper describes a rich set of data characterizing the composition and sources of organic matter.
Maria J. Chinita, Mikael Witte, Marcin J. Kurowski, Joao Teixeira, Kay Suselj, Georgios Matheou, and Peter Bogenschutz
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1909–1924, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1909-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1909-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Low clouds are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate prediction. In this paper, we introduce the first version of the unified turbulence and shallow convection parameterization named SHOC+MF developed to improve the representation of shallow cumulus clouds in the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM). Here, we also show promising preliminary results in a single-column model framework for two benchmark cases of shallow cumulus convection.
Thomas Wagner, Simon Warnach, Steffen Beirle, Nicole Bobrowski, Adrian Jost, Janis Puķīte, and Nicolas Theys
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1609–1662, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1609-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1609-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate 3D effects of volcanic plumes on the retrieval results of satellite and ground-based UV–Vis observations. With its small ground pixels of 3.5 x 5.5 km², the TROPOMI instrument can detect much smaller volcanic plumes than previous instruments. At the same time, 3D effects become important. The effect of horizontal photon paths especially can lead to a strong underestimation of the derived plume contents of up to > 50 %, which can be further increased for strong absorbers like SO2.
Siyang Cheng, Xinghong Cheng, Jianzhong Ma, Xiangde Xu, Wenqian Zhang, Jinguang Lv, Gang Bai, Bing Chen, Siying Ma, Steffen Ziegler, Sebastian Donner, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3655–3677, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3655-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3655-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We made mobile MAX-DOAS measurements in the background atmosphere over the Tibetan Plateau in summer 2021. We retrieved the tropospheric NO2 and HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) along extended driving routes and found a decreasing trend of the VCDs with altitude. Elevated NO2 VCDs along the driving routes could be attributed to enhanced traffic emissions from the towns crossed. The spatio-temporal distribution of the HCHO VCDs correlated strongly with the surface temperature.
Tim Trent, Richard Siddans, Brian Kerridge, Marc Schröder, Noëlle A. Scott, and John Remedios
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1503–1526, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1503-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Modern weather satellites provide essential information on our lower atmosphere's moisture content and temperature structure. This measurement record will span over 40 years, making it a valuable resource for climate studies. This study characterizes atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles from a European Space Agency climate project. Using weather balloon measurements, we demonstrated the performance of this dataset was within the tolerances required for future climate studies.
Kezia Lange, Andreas Richter, Anja Schönhardt, Andreas C. Meier, Tim Bösch, André Seyler, Kai Krause, Lisa K. Behrens, Folkard Wittrock, Alexis Merlaud, Frederik Tack, Caroline Fayt, Martina M. Friedrich, Ermioni Dimitropoulou, Michel Van Roozendael, Vinod Kumar, Sebastian Donner, Steffen Dörner, Bianca Lauster, Maria Razi, Christian Borger, Katharina Uhlmannsiek, Thomas Wagner, Thomas Ruhtz, Henk Eskes, Birger Bohn, Daniel Santana Diaz, Nader Abuhassan, Dirk Schüttemeyer, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1357–1389, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1357-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present airborne imaging DOAS and ground-based stationary and car DOAS measurements conducted during the S5P-VAL-DE-Ruhr campaign in the Rhine-Ruhr region. The measurements are used to validate spaceborne NO2 data products from the Sentinel-5 Precursor TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). Auxiliary data of the TROPOMI NO2 retrieval, such as spatially higher resolved a priori NO2 vertical profiles, surface reflectivity, and cloud treatment are investigated to evaluate their impact.
Katerina Garane, Ka Lok Chan, Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Diego Loyola, and Dimitris Balis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 57–74, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-57-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-57-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, 2.5 years of TROPOMI/S5P Total Column Water Vapor (TCWV) observations retrieved from the blue wavelength band are validated against co-located precipitable water measurements from NASA AERONET, which uses Cimel Sun photometers globally. Overall, the TCWV product agrees well on a global scale with the ground-based dataset (Pearson correl. coefficient 0.909) and has a mean relative bias of −2.7 ± 4.9 % with respect to the AERONET observations for moderate albedo and cloudiness.
Shun Ohishi, Takemasa Miyoshi, and Misako Kachi
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 9057–9073, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-9057-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-9057-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
An adaptive observation error inflation (AOEI) method was proposed for atmospheric data assimilation to mitigate erroneous analysis updates caused by large observation-minus-forecast differences for satellite brightness temperature around clear- and cloudy-sky boundaries. This study implemented the AOEI with an ocean data assimilation system, leading to an improvement of analysis accuracy and dynamical balance around the frontal regions with large meridional temperature differences.
Bianca Lauster, Steffen Dörner, Carl-Fredrik Enell, Udo Frieß, Myojeong Gu, Janis Puķīte, Uwe Raffalski, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15925–15942, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15925-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15925-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are an important component in ozone chemistry. Here, we use two differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) instruments in the Antarctic and Arctic to investigate the occurrence of PSCs based on the colour index, i.e. the colour of the zenith sky. Additionally using radiative transfer simulations, the variability and the seasonal cycle of PSC occurrence are analysed and an unexpectedly high signal during spring suggests the influence of volcanic aerosol.
Xavier Calbet, Cintia Carbajal Henken, Sergio DeSouza-Machado, Bomin Sun, and Tony Reale
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7105–7118, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7105-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7105-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Water vapor concentration in the atmosphere at small scales (< 6 km) is considered. The measurements show Gaussian random field behavior following Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence two-thirds law. These properties can be useful when estimating the water vapor variability within a given observed satellite scene or when different water vapor measurements have to be merged consistently.
Lei Shi, Carl J. Schreck III, Viju O. John, Eui-Seok Chung, Theresa Lang, Stefan A. Buehler, and Brian J. Soden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6949–6963, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6949-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6949-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Four upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) datasets derived from satellite microwave and infrared sounders are evaluated to assess their consistency as part of the activities for the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) water vapor assessment project. The study shows that the four datasets are consistent in the interannual temporal and spatial variability of the tropics. However, differences are found in the magnitudes of the anomalies and in the changing rates during the common period.
Shun Ohishi, Tsutomu Hihara, Hidenori Aiki, Joji Ishizaka, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Misako Kachi, and Takemasa Miyoshi
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8395–8410, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8395-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We develop an ensemble-Kalman-filter-based regional ocean data assimilation system in which satellite and in situ observations are assimilated at a daily frequency. We find the best setting for dynamical balance and accuracy based on sensitivity experiments focused on how to inflate the ensemble spread and how to apply the analysis update to the model evolution. This study has a broader impact on more general data assimilation systems in which the initial shocks are a significant issue.
Miriam Latsch, Andreas Richter, Henk Eskes, Maarten Sneep, Ping Wang, Pepijn Veefkind, Ronny Lutz, Diego Loyola, Athina Argyrouli, Pieter Valks, Thomas Wagner, Holger Sihler, Michel van Roozendael, Nicolas Theys, Huan Yu, Richard Siddans, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6257–6283, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6257-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6257-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The article investigates different S5P TROPOMI cloud retrieval algorithms for tropospheric trace gas retrievals. The cloud products show differences primarily over snow and ice and for scenes under sun glint. Some issues regarding across-track dependence are found for the cloud fractions as well as for the cloud heights.
Johannes K. Nielsen, Hans Gleisner, Stig Syndergaard, and Kent B. Lauritsen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6243–6256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6243-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6243-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides a new way to estimate uncertainties and error correlations. The method is a generalization of a known method called the
three-cornered hat: Instead of calculating uncertainties from assumed knowledge about the observation method, uncertainties and error correlations are estimated statistically from tree independent observation series, measuring the same variable. The results are useful for future estimation of atmospheric-specific humidity from the bending of radio waves.
Maximilian Herrmann, Moritz Schöne, Christian Borger, Simon Warnach, Thomas Wagner, Ulrich Platt, and Eva Gutheil
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13495–13526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13495-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13495-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Ozone depletion events (ODEs) are a common occurrence in the boundary layer during Arctic spring. Ozone is depleted by bromine species in an autocatalytic reaction cycle. Previous modeling studies assumed an infinite bromine source at the ground. An alternative emission scheme is presented in which a finite amount of bromide in the snow is tracked over time. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) is used to study ODEs in the Arctic from February to May 2019.
Klaus-Peter Heue, Diego Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Walter Zimmer, Simon Chabrillat, Quentin Errera, Jerry Ziemke, and Natalya Kramarova
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5563–5579, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5563-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5563-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To retrieve tropospheric ozone column information, we subtract stratospheric column data of BASCOE from TROPOMI/S5P total ozone columns.
The new S5P-BASCOE data agree well with existing tropospheric data like OMPS-MERRA-2. The data are also compared to ozone soundings.
The tropospheric ozone columns show the expected temporal and spatial patterns. We will also apply the algorithm to future UV nadir missions like Sentinel 4 or 5 or to recent and ongoing missions like GOME_2 or OMI.
Jia He, Helene Brogniez, and Laurence Picon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12591–12606, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12591-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12591-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A 2003–2017 satellite-based atmospheric water vapour climate data record is used to assess climate models and reanalyses. The focus is on the tropical belt, whose regional variations in the hydrological cycle are related to the tropospheric overturning circulation. While there are similarities in the interannual variability, the major discrepancies can be explained by the presence of clouds, the representation of moisture fluxes at the surface and cloud processes in the models.
Christian Borger, Steffen Beirle, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10603–10621, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10603-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10603-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we analyse trends of total column water vapour (TCWV) using multiple years of satellite observations and find, on the global average, an increase in the TCWV amount by about 0.21 % per year. Further investigations of the hydrological cycle reveal that the assumption of temporally invariant relative humidity is not always fulfilled and that the response of the global water vapour turnover time to global warming is 2 to 3 times higher than previously reported values.
Pieternel F. Levelt, Deborah C. Stein Zweers, Ilse Aben, Maite Bauwens, Tobias Borsdorff, Isabelle De Smedt, Henk J. Eskes, Christophe Lerot, Diego G. Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Nicolas Theys, Michel Van Roozendael, J. Pepijn Veefkind, and Tijl Verhoelst
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10319–10351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10319-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10319-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using the COVID-19 lockdown periods as an example, we show how Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI trace gas data (NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO and CHOCHO) can be used to understand impacts on air quality for regions and cities around the globe. We also provide information for both experienced and inexperienced users about how we created the data using state-of-the-art algorithms, where to get the data, methods taking meteorological and seasonal variability into consideration, and insights for future studies.
Gaia Pinardi, Michel Van Roozendael, François Hendrick, Andreas Richter, Pieter Valks, Ramina Alwarda, Kristof Bognar, Udo Frieß, José Granville, Myojeong Gu, Paul Johnston, Cristina Prados-Roman, Richard Querel, Kimberly Strong, Thomas Wagner, Folkard Wittrock, and Margarita Yela Gonzalez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3439–3463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3439-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3439-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We report on the GOME-2A and GOME-2B OClO dataset (2007 to 2016, from the EUMETSAT's AC SAF) validation using data from nine NDACC zenith-scattered-light DOAS (ZSL-DOAS) instruments distributed in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Specific sensitivity tests are performed on the ground-based data to estimate the impact of the different OClO DOAS analysis settings and their typical errors. Good agreement is found for both the inter-annual variability and the overall OClO seasonal behavior.
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Heidi Huntrieser, Thilo Erbertseder, Diego Loyola, Pieter Valks, Song Liu, Dale J. Allen, Kenneth E. Pickering, Eric J. Bucsela, Patrick Jöckel, Jos van Geffen, Henk Eskes, Sergio Soler, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, and Jeff Lapierre
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3329–3351, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3329-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Lightning, one of the major sources of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, contributes to the tropospheric concentration of ozone and to the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere. In this work, we contribute to improving the estimation of lightning-produced nitrogen oxides in the Ebro Valley and the Pyrenees by using two different TROPOMI products and comparing the results.
Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Diego G. Loyola, Christophe Lerot, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6861–6878, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6861-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring the long-term evolution of ozone and the evaluation of trends is essential to assess the efficacy of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. The first signs of recovery as a consequence of decreasing amounts of ozone-depleting substances have been reported, but the impact needs to be investigated in more detail. In the Southern Hemisphere significant positive trends were found, but in the Northern Hemisphere the expected increase is still not yet visible.
Mark Weber, Carlo Arosio, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Vitali E. Fioletov, Stacey M. Frith, Jeannette D. Wild, Kleareti Tourpali, John P. Burrows, and Diego Loyola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6843–6859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6843-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term trends in column ozone have been determined from five merged total ozone datasets spanning the period 1978–2020. We show that ozone recovery due to the decline in stratospheric halogens after the 1990s (as regulated by the Montreal Protocol) is evident outside the tropical region and amounts to half a percent per decade. The ozone recovery in the Northern Hemisphere is however compensated for by the negative long-term trend contribution from atmospheric dynamics since the year 2000.
Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Konstantinos Michailidis, Pascal Hedelt, Isabelle A. Taylor, Antje Inness, Lieven Clarisse, Dimitris Balis, Dmitry Efremenko, Diego Loyola, Roy G. Grainger, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5665–5683, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5665-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5665-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Volcanic eruptions eject large amounts of ash and trace gases into the atmosphere. The use of space-borne instruments enables the global monitoring of volcanic SO2 emissions in an economical and risk-free manner. The main aim of this paper is to present its extensive verification, accomplished within the ESA S5P+I: SO2LH project, over major recent volcanic eruptions, against collocated space-borne measurements, as well as assess its impact on the forecasts provided by CAMS.
Stefan Brönnimann, Peter Stucki, Jörg Franke, Veronika Valler, Yuri Brugnara, Ralf Hand, Laura C. Slivinski, Gilbert P. Compo, Prashant D. Sardeshmukh, Michel Lang, and Bettina Schaefli
Clim. Past, 18, 919–933, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-919-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-919-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Floods in Europe vary on time scales of several decades. Flood-rich and flood-poor periods alternate. Recently floods have again become more frequent. Long time series of peak stream flow, precipitation, and atmospheric variables reveal that until around 1980, these changes were mostly due to changes in atmospheric circulation. However, in recent decades the role of increasing atmospheric moisture due to climate warming has become more important and is now the main driver of flood changes.
Chloé Radice, Hélène Brogniez, Pierre-Emmanuel Kirstetter, and Philippe Chambon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3811–3825, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3811-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3811-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A novel probabilistic approach is proposed to evaluate relative humidity (RH) profiles simulated by an atmospheric model with respect to satellite-based RH defined from probability distributions. It improves upon deterministic comparisons by enhancing the information content to enable a finer assessment of each model–observation discrepancy, highlighting significant departures within a deterministic confidence range. Geographical and vertical distributions of the model biases are discussed.
Gerrit Kuhlmann, Ka Lok Chan, Sebastian Donner, Ying Zhu, Marc Schwaerzel, Steffen Dörner, Jia Chen, Andreas Hueni, Duc Hai Nguyen, Alexander Damm, Annette Schütt, Florian Dietrich, Dominik Brunner, Cheng Liu, Brigitte Buchmann, Thomas Wagner, and Mark Wenig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1609–1629, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1609-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1609-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an air pollutant whose concentration often exceeds air quality guideline values, especially in urban areas. To map the spatial distribution of NO2 in Munich, we conducted the Munich NO2 Imaging Campaign (MuNIC), where NO2 was measured with stationary, mobile, and airborne in situ and remote sensing instruments. The campaign provides a unique dataset that has been used to compare the different instruments and to study the spatial variability of NO2 and its sources.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Dimitris Karagkiozidis, Martina Michaela Friedrich, Steffen Beirle, Alkiviadis Bais, François Hendrick, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Ilias Fountoulakis, Angelos Karanikolas, Paraskevi Tzoumaka, Michel Van Roozendael, Dimitris Balis, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1269–1301, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1269-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1269-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we focus on the retrieval of aerosol, NO2, and HCHO vertical profiles from multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) observations for the first time over Thessaloniki, Greece. We use two independent inversion algorithms for the profile retrievals. We evaluate their performance, we intercompare their results, and we validate their products with ancillary data, measured by other co-located reference instruments.
Steffen Beirle, Christian Borger, Steffen Dörner, Vinod Kumar, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 987–1006, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-987-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-987-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a formalism that relates the vertical column density (VCD) of the oxygen collision complex O4 to surface values of temperature and pressure, based on physical laws. In addition, we propose an empirical modification which also accounts for surface relative humidity (RH). This allows for simple and quick but still accurate calculation of the O4 VCD without the need for constructing full vertical profiles, which is expected to be useful in particular for MAX-DOAS applications.
Antje Inness, Melanie Ades, Dimitris Balis, Dmitry Efremenko, Johannes Flemming, Pascal Hedelt, Maria-Elissavet Koukouli, Diego Loyola, and Roberto Ribas
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 971–994, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-971-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-971-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes the way that the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) produces forecasts of volcanic SO2. These forecasts are provided routinely every day. They are created by blending SO2 data from satellite instruments (TROPOMI and GOME-2) with the CAMS model. We show that the quality of the CAMS SO2 forecasts can be improved if additional information about the height of volcanic plumes is provided in the satellite data.
Fei Liu, Zhining Tao, Steffen Beirle, Joanna Joiner, Yasuko Yoshida, Steven J. Smith, K. Emma Knowland, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1333–1349, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1333-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1333-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we present a novel method to infer NOx emissions and lifetimes based on tropospheric NO2 observations together with reanalysis wind fields for cities located in polluted backgrounds. We evaluate the accuracy of the method using synthetic NO2 observations derived from a high-resolution model simulation. Our work provides an estimate for uncertainties in satellite-derived emissions inferred from chemical transport model (CTM)-independent approaches.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Jānis Puķīte, Christian Borger, Steffen Dörner, Myojeong Gu, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 245–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-245-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-245-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Chlorine dioxide (OClO) is an indicator for chlorine activation. New OClO data by TROPOMI (S5P) are interpreted in a meteorological context and related to CALIOP PSC observations. We report very high OClO levels for the northern hemispheric winter 2019/20 with an extraordinarily long period with a stable polar vortex. A minor stratospheric warming in the Southern Hemisphere was also observed in September 2019, where usual OClO values rapidly deactivated 1–2 weeks earlier.
Bianca Maria Dinelli, Piera Raspollini, Marco Gai, Luca Sgheri, Marco Ridolfi, Simone Ceccherini, Flavio Barbara, Nicola Zoppetti, Elisa Castelli, Enzo Papandrea, Paolo Pettinari, Angelika Dehn, Anu Dudhia, Michael Kiefer, Alessandro Piro, Jean-Marie Flaud, Manuel López-Puertas, David Moore, John Remedios, and Massimo Bianchini
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7975–7998, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7975-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7975-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The level-2 v8 database from the measurements of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), aboard the European Space Agency Envisat satellite, containing atmospheric fields of pressure, temperature, and volume mixing ratio of 21 trace gases, is described in this paper. The database covers all the measurements acquired by MIPAS (from July 2002 to April 2012). The number of species included makes it of particular importance for the studies of stratospheric chemistry.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Christophe Lerot, François Hendrick, Michel Van Roozendael, Leonardo M. A. Alvarado, Andreas Richter, Isabelle De Smedt, Nicolas Theys, Jonas Vlietinck, Huan Yu, Jeroen Van Gent, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Jean-François Müller, Pieter Valks, Diego Loyola, Hitoshi Irie, Vinod Kumar, Thomas Wagner, Stefan F. Schreier, Vinayak Sinha, Ting Wang, Pucai Wang, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7775–7807, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7775-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7775-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Global measurements of glyoxal tropospheric columns from the satellite instrument TROPOMI are presented. Such measurements can contribute to the estimation of atmospheric emissions of volatile organic compounds. This new glyoxal product has been fully characterized with a comprehensive error budget, with comparison with other satellite data sets as well as with validation based on independent ground-based remote sensing glyoxal observations.
Jānis Puķīte, Christian Borger, Steffen Dörner, Myojeong Gu, Udo Frieß, Andreas Carlos Meier, Carl-Fredrik Enell, Uwe Raffalski, Andreas Richter, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7595–7625, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7595-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7595-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Chlorine dioxide (OClO) is used as an indicator for chlorine activation. We present a new differential optical absorption spectroscopy retrieval algorithm for OClO from measurements of TROPOMI on the Sentinel-5P satellite. To achieve a substantially improved accuracy for the weak absorber OClO, we consider several additional fit parameters accounting for various higher-order spectral effects. The retrieved OClO slant column densities are compared with ground-based zenith sky measurements.
Daan Hubert, Klaus-Peter Heue, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Tijl Verhoelst, Marc Allaart, Steven Compernolle, Patrick D. Cullis, Angelika Dehn, Christian Félix, Bryan J. Johnson, Arno Keppens, Debra E. Kollonige, Christophe Lerot, Diego Loyola, Matakite Maata, Sukarni Mitro, Maznorizan Mohamad, Ankie Piters, Fabian Romahn, Henry B. Selkirk, Francisco R. da Silva, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Holger Vömel, Jacquelyn C. Witte, and Claus Zehner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7405–7433, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the first 2 years of TROPOMI tropical tropospheric ozone column data. Comparisons to reference measurements by ozonesonde and satellite sensors show that TROPOMI bias (−0.1 to +2.3 DU) and precision (1.5 to 2.5 DU) meet mission requirements. Potential causes of bias and its spatio-temporal structure are discussed, as well as ways to identify sampling errors. Our analysis of known geophysical patterns demonstrates the improved performance of TROPOMI with respect to its predecessors.
Song Liu, Pieter Valks, Gaia Pinardi, Jian Xu, Ka Lok Chan, Athina Argyrouli, Ronny Lutz, Steffen Beirle, Ehsan Khorsandi, Frank Baier, Vincent Huijnen, Alkiviadis Bais, Sebastian Donner, Steffen Dörner, Myrto Gratsea, François Hendrick, Dimitris Karagkiozidis, Kezia Lange, Ankie J. M. Piters, Julia Remmers, Andreas Richter, Michel Van Roozendael, Thomas Wagner, Mark Wenig, and Diego G. Loyola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7297–7327, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7297-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7297-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, an improved tropospheric NO2 retrieval algorithm from TROPOMI measurements over Europe is presented. The stratospheric estimation is implemented with correction for the dependency of the stratospheric NO2 on the viewing geometry. The AMF calculation is implemented using improved surface albedo, a priori NO2 profiles, and cloud correction. The improved tropospheric NO2 data show good correlations with ground-based MAX-DOAS measurements.
Nicolas Theys, Vitali Fioletov, Can Li, Isabelle De Smedt, Christophe Lerot, Chris McLinden, Nickolay Krotkov, Debora Griffin, Lieven Clarisse, Pascal Hedelt, Diego Loyola, Thomas Wagner, Vinod Kumar, Antje Innes, Roberto Ribas, François Hendrick, Jonas Vlietinck, Hugues Brenot, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16727–16744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new algorithm to retrieve sulfur dioxide from space UV measurements. We apply the technique to high-resolution TROPOMI measurements and demonstrate the high sensitivity of the approach to weak SO2 emissions worldwide with an unprecedented limit of detection of 8 kt yr−1. This result has broad implications for atmospheric science studies dealing with improving emission inventories and identifying and quantifying missing sources, in the context of air quality and climate.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Joaquín Muñoz-Sabater, Emanuel Dutra, Anna Agustí-Panareda, Clément Albergel, Gabriele Arduini, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Souhail Boussetta, Margarita Choulga, Shaun Harrigan, Hans Hersbach, Brecht Martens, Diego G. Miralles, María Piles, Nemesio J. Rodríguez-Fernández, Ervin Zsoter, Carlo Buontempo, and Jean-Noël Thépaut
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4349–4383, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4349-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4349-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The creation of ERA5-Land responds to a growing number of applications requiring global land datasets at a resolution higher than traditionally reached. ERA5-Land provides operational, global, and hourly key variables of the water and energy cycles over land surfaces, at 9 km resolution, from 1981 until the present. This work provides evidence of an overall improvement of the water cycle compared to previous reanalyses, whereas the energy cycle variables perform as well as those of ERA5.
Xin Tian, Yang Wang, Steffen Beirle, Pinhua Xie, Thomas Wagner, Jin Xu, Ang Li, Steffen Dörner, Bo Ren, and Xiaomei Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12867–12894, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12867-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12867-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The performances of two MAX-DOAS inversion algorithms were evaluated for various aerosol pollution scenarios. One inversion algorithm is based on optimal estimation; the other uses a parameterized approach. In this analysis, three types of profile shapes for aerosols and NO2 were considered: exponential, Boltzmann, and Gaussian. The evaluation results can effectively guide the application of the two inversion algorithms in the actual atmosphere and improve the accuracy of the actual inversion.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Isabelle De Smedt, Gaia Pinardi, Corinne Vigouroux, Steven Compernolle, Alkis Bais, Nuria Benavent, Folkert Boersma, Ka-Lok Chan, Sebastian Donner, Kai-Uwe Eichmann, Pascal Hedelt, François Hendrick, Hitoshi Irie, Vinod Kumar, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Bavo Langerock, Christophe Lerot, Cheng Liu, Diego Loyola, Ankie Piters, Andreas Richter, Claudia Rivera Cárdenas, Fabian Romahn, Robert George Ryan, Vinayak Sinha, Nicolas Theys, Jonas Vlietinck, Thomas Wagner, Ting Wang, Huan Yu, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12561–12593, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12561-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12561-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper assess the performances of the TROPOMI formaldehyde observations compared to its predecessor OMI at different spatial and temporal scales. We also use a global network of MAX-DOAS instruments to validate both satellite datasets for a large range of HCHO columns. The precision obtained with daily TROPOMI observations is comparable to monthly OMI observations. We present clear detection of weak HCHO column enhancements related to shipping emissions in the Indian Ocean.
Anoop S. Mahajan, Mriganka S. Biswas, Steffen Beirle, Thomas Wagner, Anja Schönhardt, Nuria Benavent, and Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11829–11842, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11829-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11829-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Iodine plays a vital role in oxidation chemistry over Antarctica, with past observations showing highly elevated levels of iodine oxide (IO) leading to severe depletion of boundary layer ozone. We present IO observations over three summers (2015–2017) at the Indian Antarctic bases of Bharati and Maitri. IO was observed during all campaigns with mixing ratios below 2 pptv, which is lower than the peak levels observed in West Antarctica, showing the differences in regional chemistry and emissions.
Vinod Kumar, Julia Remmers, Steffen Beirle, Joachim Fallmann, Astrid Kerkweg, Jos Lelieveld, Mariano Mertens, Andrea Pozzer, Benedikt Steil, Marc Barra, Holger Tost, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5241–5269, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5241-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5241-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present high-resolution regional atmospheric chemistry model simulations focused around Germany. We highlight the importance of spatial resolution of the model itself as well as the input emissions inventory and short-scale temporal variability of emissions for simulations. We propose a consistent approach for evaluating the simulated vertical distribution of NO2 using MAX-DOAS measurements while also considering its spatial sensitivity volume and change in sensitivity within this volume.
Susanne Crewell, Kerstin Ebell, Patrick Konjari, Mario Mech, Tatiana Nomokonova, Ana Radovan, David Strack, Arantxa M. Triana-Gómez, Stefan Noël, Raul Scarlat, Gunnar Spreen, Marion Maturilli, Annette Rinke, Irina Gorodetskaya, Carolina Viceto, Thomas August, and Marc Schröder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4829–4856, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4829-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4829-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Water vapor (WV) is an important variable in the climate system. Satellite measurements are thus crucial to characterize the spatial and temporal variability in WV and how it changed over time. In particular with respect to the observed strong Arctic warming, the role of WV still needs to be better understood. However, as shown in this paper, a detailed understanding is still hampered by large uncertainties in the various satellite WV products, showing the need for improved methods to derive WV.
Steffen Beirle, Christian Borger, Steffen Dörner, Henk Eskes, Vinod Kumar, Adrianus de Laat, and Thomas Wagner
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2995–3012, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2995-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2995-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A catalog of point sources of nitrogen oxides was created using satellite observations of NO2. Key for the identification of point sources was the divergence, i.e., the difference between upwind and downwind levels of NO2.
The catalog lists 451 locations, of which 242 could be automatically matched to power plants. Other point sources are metal smelters, cement plants, or industrial areas. The catalog thus allows checking and improving of existing emission inventories.
Florian Dinger, Timo Kleinbek, Steffen Dörner, Nicole Bobrowski, Ulrich Platt, Thomas Wagner, Martha Ibarra, and Eveling Espinoza
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9367–9404, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9367-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9367-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring magnitude or chemical composition of volcanic gas emissions can help to forecast volcanic eruptions and provides empirical data on the impact of volcanoes on the chemistry in the local and global atmosphere. This study reports and discusses continuous time series of the sulfur and bromine emission fluxes of Masaya from 2014 to 2020. We observed an annual cyclicity in the BrO / SO2 molar ratio, possibly caused by the annual variability in the atmospheric humidity.
Holger Sihler, Steffen Beirle, Steffen Dörner, Marloes Gutenstein-Penning de Vries, Christoph Hörmann, Christian Borger, Simon Warnach, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3989–4031, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3989-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3989-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
MICRU is an algorithm for the retrieval of effective cloud fractions (CFs) from satellite measurements. CFs describe the amount of clouds, which have a significant impact on the vertical sensitivity profile of trace gases like NO2 and HCHO. MICRU retrieves small CFs with an accuracy of 0.04 over the entire satellite swath. It features an empirical surface reflectivity model accounting for physical anisotropy (BRDF, sun glitter) and instrumental effects. MICRU is also applicable to imager data.
Thomas Wagner, Steffen Dörner, Steffen Beirle, Sebastian Donner, and Stefan Kinne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3871–3893, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3871-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3871-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We compare measured and simulated O4 absorptions for conditions of extremely low aerosol optical depth, for which the uncertainties related to imperfect knowledge of aerosol properties do not significantly affect the comparison results. The simulations underestimate the measurements by 15 % to 20 %. Even if no aerosols are considered, the simulated O4 absorptions are systematically lower than the measurements. Our results indicate a fundamental inconsistency between simulations and measurements.
Maximilian Herrmann, Holger Sihler, Udo Frieß, Thomas Wagner, Ulrich Platt, and Eva Gutheil
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7611–7638, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7611-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7611-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Time-dependent 3D numerical simulations of tropospheric bromine release and ozone depletion events (ODEs) in the Arctic polar spring of 2009 are compared to observations. Simulation results agree well with the observations at both Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and at Summit, Greenland. In a parameter study, different settings for the bromine release mechanism are evaluated. An enhancement of the bromine release mechanism improves the agreement regarding the occurrence of ODEs with the observations.
Nikita M. Fedkin, Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Pascal Hedelt, Diego G. Loyola, Russell R. Dickerson, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3673–3691, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3673-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3673-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a new volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO2) layer height retrieval algorithm for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). We generated a large spectral dataset with a radiative transfer model and used it to train neural networks to predict SO2 height from OMI radiance data. The algorithm is fast and takes less than 10 min for a single orbit. Retrievals were tested on four eruption cases, and results had reasonable agreement (within 2 km) with other retrievals and previous studies.
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Hei Shing Lee, Johanna Tamminen, Christophe Lerot, Fabian Romahn, and Diego G. Loyola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2993–3002, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2993-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2993-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Our paper discusses the structure function method, which allows validation of random uncertainties in the data and, at the same time, probing of the small-scale natural variability. We applied this method to the clear-sky total ozone measurements by TROPOMI Sentinel-5P satellite instrument and found that the TROPOMI random error estimation is adequate. The discussed method is a powerful tool, which can be used in various applications.
Thomas Wagner, Steffen Beirle, Steffen Dörner, Christian Borger, and Roeland Van Malderen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5315–5353, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5315-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5315-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A global long-term (1995–2015) data set of total column water vapour (TCWV) derived from satellite observations is used to quantify the influence of teleconnections. Based on a newly developed empirical method more than 40 teleconnection indices are significantly detected in our global TCWV data set. After orthogonalisation, only 20 indices are left significant. The global distribution of the cumulative influence of teleconnection indices is strongest in the tropics and high latitudes.
Steven Compernolle, Athina Argyrouli, Ronny Lutz, Maarten Sneep, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Ann Mari Fjæraa, Daan Hubert, Arno Keppens, Diego Loyola, Ewan O'Connor, Fabian Romahn, Piet Stammes, Tijl Verhoelst, and Ping Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2451–2476, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2451-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2451-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The high-resolution satellite Sentinel-5p TROPOMI observes several atmospheric gases. To account for cloud interference with the observations, S5P cloud data products (CLOUD OCRA/ROCINN_CAL, OCRA/ROCINN_CRB, and FRESCO) provide vital input: cloud fraction, cloud height, and cloud optical thickness. Here, S5P cloud parameters are validated by comparing with other satellite sensors (VIIRS, MODIS, and OMI) and with ground-based CloudNet data. The agreement depends on product type and cloud height.
Lewis Grasso, Daniel Bikos, Jorel Torres, John F. Dostalek, Ting-Chi Wu, John Forsythe, Heather Q. Cronk, Curtis J. Seaman, Steven D. Miller, Emily Berndt, Harry G. Weinman, and Kennard B. Kasper
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1615–1634, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1615-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses geostationary imagery to detect dust. This research was done to demonstrate the ability of dust detection over ocean surfaces in a dry atmosphere.
Bianca Lauster, Steffen Dörner, Steffen Beirle, Sebastian Donner, Sergey Gromov, Katharina Uhlmannsiek, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 769–783, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-769-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-769-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In urban areas, road traffic is a dominant source of nitrogen oxides. In this study, two multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instruments on opposite sides of a motorway were used to measure the nitrogen dioxide absorption near Mainz, Germany. Total nitrogen oxide emissions are estimated for the occurring traffic flux. We show that the measured emissions systematically exceed the maximum expected emissions calculated from the European emission standards.
Tijl Verhoelst, Steven Compernolle, Gaia Pinardi, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Henk J. Eskes, Kai-Uwe Eichmann, Ann Mari Fjæraa, José Granville, Sander Niemeijer, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber, François Hendrick, Andrea Pazmiño, Alkiviadis Bais, Ariane Bazureau, K. Folkert Boersma, Kristof Bognar, Angelika Dehn, Sebastian Donner, Aleksandr Elokhov, Manuel Gebetsberger, Florence Goutail, Michel Grutter de la Mora, Aleksandr Gruzdev, Myrto Gratsea, Georg H. Hansen, Hitoshi Irie, Nis Jepsen, Yugo Kanaya, Dimitris Karagkiozidis, Rigel Kivi, Karin Kreher, Pieternel F. Levelt, Cheng Liu, Moritz Müller, Monica Navarro Comas, Ankie J. M. Piters, Jean-Pierre Pommereau, Thierry Portafaix, Cristina Prados-Roman, Olga Puentedura, Richard Querel, Julia Remmers, Andreas Richter, John Rimmer, Claudia Rivera Cárdenas, Lidia Saavedra de Miguel, Valery P. Sinyakov, Wolfgang Stremme, Kimberly Strong, Michel Van Roozendael, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Thomas Wagner, Folkard Wittrock, Margarita Yela González, and Claus Zehner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 481–510, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-481-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-481-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper reports on the ground-based validation of the NO2 data produced operationally by the TROPOMI instrument on board the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. Tropospheric, stratospheric, and total NO2 columns are compared to measurements collected from MAX-DOAS, ZSL-DOAS, and PGN/Pandora instruments respectively. The products are found to satisfy mission requirements in general, though negative mean differences are found at sites with high pollution levels. Potential causes are discussed.
Martin Dameris, Diego G. Loyola, Matthias Nützel, Melanie Coldewey-Egbers, Christophe Lerot, Fabian Romahn, and Michel van Roozendael
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 617–633, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-617-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-617-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Record low ozone values were observed in March 2020. Dynamical and chemical circumstances leading to low ozone values in spring 2020 are discussed and are compared to similar dynamical conditions in the Northern Hemisphere in 1996/1997 and 2010/2011. 2019/2020 showed an unusual persistent polar vortex with low stratospheric temperatures, which were permanently below 195 K at 50 hPa. This enabled enhanced formation of polar stratospheric clouds and a subsequent clear reduction of total ozone.
Marloes Gutenstein, Karsten Fennig, Marc Schröder, Tim Trent, Stephan Bakan, J. Brent Roberts, and Franklin R. Robertson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 121–146, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-121-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-121-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The net exchange of water between the surface and atmosphere is mainly determined by the freshwater flux: the difference between evaporation (E) and precipitation (P), or E−P. Although there is consensus among modelers that with a warming climate E−P will increase, evidence from satellite data is still not conclusive, mainly due to sensor calibration issues. We here investigate the degree of correspondence among six recent
satellite-based climate data records and ERA5 reanalysis E−P data.
Jan-Lukas Tirpitz, Udo Frieß, François Hendrick, Carlos Alberti, Marc Allaart, Arnoud Apituley, Alkis Bais, Steffen Beirle, Stijn Berkhout, Kristof Bognar, Tim Bösch, Ilya Bruchkouski, Alexander Cede, Ka Lok Chan, Mirjam den Hoed, Sebastian Donner, Theano Drosoglou, Caroline Fayt, Martina M. Friedrich, Arnoud Frumau, Lou Gast, Clio Gielen, Laura Gomez-Martín, Nan Hao, Arjan Hensen, Bas Henzing, Christian Hermans, Junli Jin, Karin Kreher, Jonas Kuhn, Johannes Lampel, Ang Li, Cheng Liu, Haoran Liu, Jianzhong Ma, Alexis Merlaud, Enno Peters, Gaia Pinardi, Ankie Piters, Ulrich Platt, Olga Puentedura, Andreas Richter, Stefan Schmitt, Elena Spinei, Deborah Stein Zweers, Kimberly Strong, Daan Swart, Frederik Tack, Martin Tiefengraber, René van der Hoff, Michel van Roozendael, Tim Vlemmix, Jan Vonk, Thomas Wagner, Yang Wang, Zhuoru Wang, Mark Wenig, Matthias Wiegner, Folkard Wittrock, Pinhua Xie, Chengzhi Xing, Jin Xu, Margarita Yela, Chengxin Zhang, and Xiaoyi Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) is a ground-based remote sensing measurement technique that derives atmospheric aerosol and trace gas vertical profiles from skylight spectra. In this study, consistency and reliability of MAX-DOAS profiles are assessed by applying nine different evaluation algorithms to spectral data recorded during an intercomparison campaign in the Netherlands and by comparing the results to colocated supporting observations.
Omar Torres, Hiren Jethva, Changwoo Ahn, Glen Jaross, and Diego G. Loyola
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6789–6806, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6789-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6789-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
TROPOMI measures the quantity of small suspended particles (aerosols). We describe initial results of aerosol measurements using a NASA algorithm that retrieves the UV aerosol index, aerosol optical depth, and single-scattering albedo. An evaluation of derived products using sun-photometer observations shows close agreement. We also use these results to discuss important biomass burning and wildfire events around the world that got the attention of scientists and news media alike.
Vinod Kumar, Steffen Beirle, Steffen Dörner, Abhishek Kumar Mishra, Sebastian Donner, Yang Wang, Vinayak Sinha, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14183–14235, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14183-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first long-term MAX-DOAS measurements of aerosols, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde tropospheric columns, vertical distributions, and temporal variation from Mohali in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. We investigate the effect of various emission sources and meteorological conditions on the measured pollutants and how they control ozone formation. These measurements are also used to validate the corresponding satellite observations and are also compared against in situ observations.
Gaia Pinardi, Michel Van Roozendael, François Hendrick, Nicolas Theys, Nader Abuhassan, Alkiviadis Bais, Folkert Boersma, Alexander Cede, Jihyo Chong, Sebastian Donner, Theano Drosoglou, Anatoly Dzhola, Henk Eskes, Udo Frieß, José Granville, Jay R. Herman, Robert Holla, Jari Hovila, Hitoshi Irie, Yugo Kanaya, Dimitris Karagkiozidis, Natalia Kouremeti, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Jianzhong Ma, Enno Peters, Ankie Piters, Oleg Postylyakov, Andreas Richter, Julia Remmers, Hisahiro Takashima, Martin Tiefengraber, Pieter Valks, Tim Vlemmix, Thomas Wagner, and Folkard Wittrock
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6141–6174, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6141-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6141-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We validate several GOME-2 and OMI tropospheric NO2 products with 23 MAX-DOAS and 16 direct sun instruments distributed worldwide, highlighting large horizontal inhomogeneities at several sites affecting the validation results. We propose a method for quantification and correction. We show the application of such correction reduces the satellite underestimation in almost all heterogeneous cases, but a negative bias remains over the MAX-DOAS and direct sun network ensemble for both satellites.
Yeyuan Huang, Ang Li, Thomas Wagner, Yang Wang, Zhaokun Hu, Pinhua Xie, Jin Xu, Hongmei Ren, Julia Remmers, Xiaoyi Fang, and Bing Dang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6025–6051, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6025-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6025-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Mobile DOAS has become an important tool for the quantification of emission sources. In this study, we focused on the error budget of mobile DOAS measurements from NOx and SO2 point sources based on the model simulations, and we also offered recommendations for the optimum settings of such measurements.
Alexis Merlaud, Livio Belegante, Daniel-Eduard Constantin, Mirjam Den Hoed, Andreas Carlos Meier, Marc Allaart, Magdalena Ardelean, Maxim Arseni, Tim Bösch, Hugues Brenot, Andreea Calcan, Emmanuel Dekemper, Sebastian Donner, Steffen Dörner, Mariana Carmelia Balanica Dragomir, Lucian Georgescu, Anca Nemuc, Doina Nicolae, Gaia Pinardi, Andreas Richter, Adrian Rosu, Thomas Ruhtz, Anja Schönhardt, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Reza Shaiganfar, Kerstin Stebel, Frederik Tack, Sorin Nicolae Vâjâiac, Jeni Vasilescu, Jurgen Vanhamel, Thomas Wagner, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5513–5535, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5513-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5513-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The AROMAT campaigns took place in Romania in 2014 and 2015. They aimed to test airborne observation systems dedicated to air quality studies and to verify the concept of such campaigns in support of the validation of space-borne atmospheric missions. We show that airborne measurements of NO2 can be valuable for the validation of air quality satellites. For H2CO and SO2, the validation should involve ground-based measurement systems at key locations that the AROMAT measurements help identify.
Yang Wang, Arnoud Apituley, Alkiviadis Bais, Steffen Beirle, Nuria Benavent, Alexander Borovski, Ilya Bruchkouski, Ka Lok Chan, Sebastian Donner, Theano Drosoglou, Henning Finkenzeller, Martina M. Friedrich, Udo Frieß, David Garcia-Nieto, Laura Gómez-Martín, François Hendrick, Andreas Hilboll, Junli Jin, Paul Johnston, Theodore K. Koenig, Karin Kreher, Vinod Kumar, Aleksandra Kyuberis, Johannes Lampel, Cheng Liu, Haoran Liu, Jianzhong Ma, Oleg L. Polyansky, Oleg Postylyakov, Richard Querel, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Stefan Schmitt, Xin Tian, Jan-Lukas Tirpitz, Michel Van Roozendael, Rainer Volkamer, Zhuoru Wang, Pinhua Xie, Chengzhi Xing, Jin Xu, Margarita Yela, Chengxin Zhang, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5087–5116, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5087-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5087-2020, 2020
Cited articles
AIRS project: Aqua/AIRS L3 Monthly Standard Physical Retrieval (AIRS+AMSU) 1 degree x 1 degree V7.0, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Greenbelt, MD, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/KUC55JEVO1SR, 2019. a, b
AIRS Science Team and Teixeira, J.: AIRS/Aqua L3 Monthly Standard Physical Retrieval (AIRS+AMSU) 1 degree x 1 degree V006, Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/Aqua/AIRS/DATA319, 2013. a
Alexandersson, H.: A homogeneity test applied to precipitation data, J. Climatol., 6, 661–675, 1986. a
Allan, R. P., Willett, K. M., John, V. O., and Trent, T.: Global changes in water vapor 1979–2020, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 127, e2022JD036728, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD036728, 2022. a, b
Andersson, A., Fennig, K., Klepp, C., Bakan, S., Graßl, H., and Schulz, J.: The Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data – HOAPS-3, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 2, 215–234, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2-215-2010, 2010. a
Andersson, A., Graw, K., Schröder, M., Fennig, K., Liman, J., Bakan, S., Hollmann, R., and Klepp, C.: Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data – HOAPS 4.0, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF), https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/HOAPS/V002, 2017. a
Barnston, A. G. and Livezey, R. E.: Classification, seasonality and persistence of low-frequency atmospheric circulation patterns, Mon. Weather Rev., 115, 1083–1126, 1987. a
Beirle, S., Lampel, J., Wang, Y., Mies, K., Dörner, S., Grossi, M., Loyola, D., Dehn, A., Danielczok, A., Schröder, M., and Wagner, T.: The ESA GOME-Evolution “Climate” water vapor product: a homogenized time series of H2O columns from GOME, SCIAMACHY, and GOME-2, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 449–468, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-449-2018, 2018a. a, b
Beirle, S., Lampel, J., Wang, Y., Wagner, T., Grossi, M., and Loyola, D.: The GOME-Evolution total column water vapor “climate” product (Version 2.2), World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/WDCC/GOME-EVL_water_vapor_clim_v2.2, 2018b. a, b
Borbas, E. E., Seeman, S. W., Kern, A., Moy, A., Li, L., Gumley, L., and Menzel, W. P.: MODIS atmospheric profile retrieval algorithm theoretical basis document, Version 6, Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, https://modis-images.gsfc.nasa.gov/_docs/MOD07_atbd_v7_April2011.pdf (last access: 23 November 2023), 2011. a
Borger, C., Beirle, S., Dörner, S., Sihler, H., and Wagner, T.: Total column water vapour retrieval from S-5P/TROPOMI in the visible blue spectral range, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2751–2783, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2751-2020, 2020. a
Borger, C., Beirle, S., and Wagner, T.: A 16-year global climate data record of total column water vapour generated from OMI observations in the visible blue spectral range, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3023–3049, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3023-2023, 2023a. a, b
Borger, C., Beirle, S., and Wagner, T.: MPIC OMI Total Column Water Vapour (TCWV) Climate Data Record, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7973889, 2023b. a, b
Bove, M. C., Elsner, J. B., Landsea, C. W., Niu, X., and O'Brien, J. J.: Effect of El Niño on US landfalling hurricanes, revisited, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 79, 2477–2482, 1998. a
Castelli, E., Papandrea, E., Di Roma, A., Dinelli, B. M., Casadio, S., and Bojkov, B.: The Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) version 2: algorithm evolution, dataset description and performance improvements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 371–388, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-371-2019, 2019. a, b
Chung, E.-S., Soden, B., Sohn, B., and Shi, L.: Upper-tropospheric moistening in response to anthropogenic warming, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111, 11636–11641, 2014. a
Colman, R. and Soden, B. J.: Water vapor and lapse rate feedbacks in the climate system, Rev. Mod. Phys., 93, 045002, https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.93.045002, 2021. a
Compo, G. P., Whitaker, J. S., Sardeshmukh, P. D., Matsui, N., Allan, R. J., Yin, X., Gleason, B. E., Vose, R. S., Rutledge, G., Bessemoulin, P., Brönnimann, S., Brunet, M., Crouthamel, R. I., Grant, A. N., Groisman, P. Y., Jones, P. D., Kruk, M. C., Kruger, A. C., Marshall, G. J., Maugeri, M., Mok, H. Y., Nordli, Ø., Ross, T. F., Trigo, R. M., Wang, X. L., Woodruff, S. D., and Worle, S. J.: The twentieth century reanalysis project, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 1–28, 2011. a, b, c
Crewell, S., Ebell, K., Konjari, P., Mech, M., Nomokonova, T., Radovan, A., Strack, D., Triana-Gómez, A. M., Noël, S., Scarlat, R., Spreen, G., Maturilli, M., Rinke, A., Gorodetskaya, I., Viceto, C., August, T., and Schröder, M.: A systematic assessment of water vapor products in the Arctic: from instantaneous measurements to monthly means, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4829–4856, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4829-2021, 2021. a
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P., Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P., Bechtold, P., Bechtold, P., Bechtold, P., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N., Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S. B., Hersbach, H., Hólm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kållberg, P., Köhler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M., Morcrette, J., Park, B., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C., Thépau, J., and Vitart, F.: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: Configuration and performance of the data assimilation system, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 553–597, 2011. a, b
Dessler, A. E. and Davis, S.: Trends in tropospheric humidity from reanalysis systems, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 115, D19127, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014192, 2010. a
Diedrich, H., Preusker, R., Lindstrot, R., and Fischer, J.: Retrieval of daytime total columnar water vapour from MODIS measurements over land surfaces, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 823–836, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-823-2015, 2015. a
Douville, H., Raghavan, K., Renwick, J., Allan, R. P., Arias, P. A., Barlow, M., Cerezo-Mota, R., Cherchi, A., Gan, T. Y., Gergis, J., Jiang, D., Khan, A., Pokam Mba, W., Rosenfeld, D., Tierney, J., and Zolina, O.: Water Cycle Changes, in: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., Gomis, M. I., Huang, M., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Matthews, J. B. R., Maycock, T. K., Waterfield, T., Yelekçi, O., Yu, R., and Zhou, B., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1055–1210, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896.010, 2021. a, b
Falk, U., Schröder, M., Brogniez, H., Eiras-Barca, J., Gimeno, L., He, J., Hubert, D., Lambert, J.-C., Preusker, R., Trent, T., and Hegglin, M.: Climate Assessment Report (CAR), Tech. rep., European Space Agency, https://climate.esa.int/documents/1860/Water_Vapour_cci_D5.1_CAR_v3.1.pdf (last access: 24 November 2023), 2022. a, b, c, d
Fennig, K., Schröder, M., Andersson, A., and Hollmann, R.: A Fundamental Climate Data Record of SMMR, SSM/I, and SSMIS brightness temperatures, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 647–681, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-647-2020, 2020. a, b
Fetzer, E. J., Lambrigtsen, B. H., Eldering, A., Aumann, H. H., and Chahine, M. T.: Biases in total precipitable water vapor climatologies from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 111, D09S16, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006598, 2006. a, b
Fischer, J., Preusker, R., Schröder, M., and Danne, O.: Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document – Part 1 (ATBD), Tech. rep., European Space Agency, https://climate.esa.int/documents/1336/Water_Vapour_cci_D2.2_ATBD_Part_1_-_MERIS-MODIS-OLCI_L2_products_v2.1.pdf (last access: 24 November 2023), 2021. a
Forster, P., Storelvmo, T., Armour, K., Collins, W., Dufresne, J.-L., Frame, D., Lunt, D. J., Mauritsen, T., Palmer, M. D., Watanabe, M., Wild, M., and Zhang, H.: Chapter 7: the earth's energy budget, climate feedbacks, and climate sensitivity Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: editors: Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., Gomis, M. I., Huang, M., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Matthews, J. B. R., Maycock, T. K., Waterfield, T., Yelekçi, O., Yu, R., and Zhou, B., Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896.009, 2021. a, b
Fowler, H. J., Ali, H., Allan, R. P., Ban, N., Barbero, R., Berg, P., Blenkinsop, S., Senol Cabi, N., Chan, S., Dale, M., Ekström, M., Evans, J. P., Fosser, G., Golding, B., Guerreiro, S. B., Hegerl, G. C., Kahraman, A., Kendon, E. J., Lenderink, G., Lewis, E., Li, X., O'Gorman, P. A., Peat, K. L., Prein, A. F., Pritchard, D., Schär, C., Sharma, A., Stott, P. A., Villalobos-Herrera, R., Villarini, G., Wasko, C., Wehner, M. F., Westra, S., and Whitford, A.: Towards advancing scientific knowledge of climate change impacts on short-duration rainfall extremes, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. A, 379, 20190542, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2019.0542, 2021. a
Gelaro, R., McCarty, W., Suárez, M. J., Todling, R., Molod, A., Takacs, L., Randles, C. A., Darmenov, A., Bosilovich, M. G., Reichle, R., Wargan, K., Coy, L., Cullather, R., Draper, C., Akella, S., Buchard, V., Conaty, A., Conaty, A., Gu, W., Kim, G., Koster, R., Lucchesi, R., Merkova, D., Eric Nielsen, J., Partyka, G., Pawson, S., Putman, W., Rienecker, M., Schubert, S. D., Sienkiewicz, M., and Zhao, B.: The modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), J. Climate, 30, 5419–5454, 2017. a
Good, E. J.: An in situ-based analysis of the relationship between land surface “skin” and screen-level air temperatures, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 121, 8801–8819, 2016. a
Hawkins, D. M.: Testing a sequence of observations for a shift in location, J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 72, 180—-186, 1977. a
Held, I. M. and Soden, B. J.: Water vapor feedback and global warming, Annu. Rev. Energ. Env., 25, 441–475, 2000. a
Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Hirahara, S., Horányi, A., Muñoz-Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Abdalla, S., Abellan, X., Balsamo, G., Bechtold, P., Biavati, G., Bidlot, J., Bonavita, M., De Chiara, G., Dahlgren, P., Dee, D., Diamantakis, M., Dragani, R., Flemming, J., Forbes, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A., Haimberger, L., Healy, S., Hogan, R. J., Hólm, E., Janisková, M., Keeley, S., Laloyaux, P., Lopez, P., Lupu, C., Radnoti, G., de Rosnay, P., Rozum, I., Vamborg, F., Villaume, S., and Thépaut, J.: The ERA5 global reanalysis, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 146, 1999–2049, 2020. a, b, c, d
Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Biavati, G., Horányi, A., Muñoz Sabater, J., Nicolas, J., Peubey, C., Radu, R., Rozum, I., Schepers, D., Simmons, A., Soci, C., Dee, D., and Thépaut, J.-N.: ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS) [data set], https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7, 2023. a, b
Hurrell, J. W.: Decadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation: Regional temperatures and precipitation, Science, 269, 676–679, 1995. a
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Leetmaa, A., Reynolds, B., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Jenne, R., and Joseph, D.: The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 77, 437–472, 1996. a
Klein, S. A. and Hartmann, D. L.: The seasonal cycle of low stratiform clouds, J. Climate, 6, 1587–1606, 1993. a
Kobayashi, S., Ota, Y., Harada, Y., Ebita, A., Moriya, M., Onoda, H., Onogi, K., Kamahori, H., Kobayashi, C., Endo, H., Miyaoka, K., and Takahashi, K.: The JRA-55 Reanalysis: General Specifications and Basic Characteristics, J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn., 93, 5–48, 2015. a
Lei, L. and Whitaker, J. S.: A four-dimensional incremental analysis update for the ensemble Kalman filter, Mon. Weather Rev., 144, 2605–2621, 2016. a
Lindstrot, R., Preusker, R., Diedrich, H., Doppler, L., Bennartz, R., and Fischer, J.: 1D-Var retrieval of daytime total columnar water vapour from MERIS measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 631–646, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-631-2012, 2012. a
Mantua, N. J., Hare, S. R., Zhang, Y., Wallace, J. M., and Francis, R. C.: A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 1069–1080, 1997. a
McCarty, W., Coy, L., Gelaro, R., Huang, A., Merkova, D., Smith, E., Sienkiewicz, M., and Wargan, K.: MERRA-2: input observations: Summary and initial assessment. Technical Report Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation, NASA Tech. Rep., 46, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20160014544/downloads/20160014544.pdf (last access: 24 November 2023), 2016. a
Mears, C. A., Santer, B. D., Wentz, F. J., Taylor, K. E., and Wehner, M. F.: Relationship between temperature and precipitable water changes over tropical oceans, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L24709, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL031936, 2007. a
Merchant, C. J. and Embury, O.: Adjusting for desert-dust-related biases in a climate data record of sea surface temperature, Remote Sens., 12, 2554, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12162554, 2020. a
Merchant, C. J., Embury, O., Block, T., Corlett, G. K., Fiedler, E., Good, S. A., Mittaz, J., Rayner, N. A., Berry, D., Eastwood, S., Taylor, M., Tsushima, Y., Waterfall, A., Wilson, R., and Donlon, C.: Satellite-based time-series of sea-surface temperature since 1981 for climate applications, Scientific Data, 6, 1–18, 2019. a
Mieruch, S., Schröder, M., Noël, S., and Schulz, J.: Comparison of decadal global water vapor changes derived from independent satellite time series, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 12489–12499, 2014. a
Physical Sciences Laboratory: NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis (V2c), NOAA PSL [data set], https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.20thC_ReanV2c.html, last access: 3 November 2020a. a
Platnick, S., et al.: MODIS Atmosphere L3 Monthly Product, NASA MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Goddard Space Flight Center, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD08_M3.061, 2015a. a, b
Platnick, S., et al.: MODIS Atmosphere L3 Monthly Product, NASA MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Goddard Space Flight Center, USA [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD08_M3.061, 2015b. a, b
Rasmusson, E. M. and Carpenter, T. H.: Variations in tropical sea surface temperature and surface wind fields associated with the Southern Oscillation/El Niño, Mon. Weather Rev., 110, 354–384, 1982. a
Rayner, N. A., Auchmann, R., Bessembinder, J., Brönnimann, S., Brugnara, Y., Capponi, F., Carrea, L., Ghent, D., Good, E., Høyer, J. L., Kennedy, J. J., Kent, E. C., Killick, R. E., Lindgren, F., Madsen, K. S., Merchant, C. J., Mitchelson, J. R., Morice, C. P., Nielsen-Englyst, P., Ortiz, P. F., Remedios, J. J., Remedios, J. J., Squintu, A. A., Stephens, A., Thorne, P. W., Tonboe, R. T., Trent, T., Veal, K. L., Waterfall, A. M., Winfield, K., Winn, J., and Woolway, R. I.: The EUSTACE project: delivering global, daily information on surface air temperature, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 101, E1924–E1947, 2020. a
Reeves, J., Chen, J., Wang, X. L., Lund, R., and Lu, Q. Q.: A review and comparison of changepoint detection techniques for climate data, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 46, 900–915, 2007. a
Rienecker, M. M., Suarez, M. J., Gelaro, R., Todling, R., Bacmeister, J., Liu, E., Bosilovich, M. G., Schubert, S. D., Takacs, L., Kim, G.-K., Bloom, S., Chen, J., Collins, D., Conaty, A., da Silva, A., Gu, W., Joiner, J., Koster, R. D., Lucchesi, R., Molod, A., Owens, T., Pawson, S., Pegion, P., Redder, C. R., Reichle, R., Robertson, F. R., Ruddick, A. G., Sienkiewicz, M., and Woollen, J.: MERRA: NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, J. Climate, 24, 624–3648, 2011. a
Rogers, J. C.: The association between the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation in the northern hemisphere, Mon. Weather Rev., 112, 1999–2015, 1984. a
Saha, S., Moorthi, S., Pan, H.-L., Wu, X., Wang, J., Nadiga, S., Tripp, P., Kistler, R., Woollen, J., Behringer, D., Liu, H., Stokes, D., Grumbine, R., Gayno, G., Wang, J., Hou, Y.-T., Chuang, H., Juang, H.-M. H., Sela, J., Iredell, M., Treadon, R., Kleist, D., Van Delst, P., Keyser, D., Derber, J., Ek, M., Meng, J., Wei, H., Yang, R., Lord, S., van den Dool, H., Kumar, A., Wang, W., Long, C., Chelliah, M., Xue, Y., Huang, B., Schemm, J.-K., Ebisuzaki, W., Lin, R., Xie, P., Chen, M., Zhou, S., Higgins, W., Zou, C.-Z., Liu, Q., Chen, Y., Han, Y., Cucurull, L., Reynolds, R. W., Rutledge, G., and Goldberg, M.: The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 91, 1015–1057, 2010. a, b
Schröder, M., Lockhoff, M., Shi, L., August, T., Bennartz, R., Borbas, E., Brogniez, H., Calbet, X., Crewell, S., Eikenberg, S., Fell, F., Forsythe, J., Gambacorta, A., Graw, K., Ho, S.-P., Höschen, H., Kinzel, J., Kursinski, E., Reale, A., Roman, J., Scott, N., Steinke, S., Sun, B., Trent, T., Walther, A., Willen, U., and Yang, Q.: GEWEX water vapor assessment (G-VAP), World Climate Research Panel, https://www.wcrp-climate.org/resources/wcrp-publications (last access: 30 October 2022), 2017a. a, b
Schröder, M., Lockhoff, M., Fell, F., Forsythe, J., Trent, T., Bennartz, R., Borbas, E., Bosilovich, M. G., Castelli, E., Hersbach, H., Kachi, M., Kobayashi, S., Loyola, D., Mears, C., Preusker, R., Rossow, W. B., and Saha, S.: The GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment archive of water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/GVAP/V001, 2017b. a, b
Schröder, M., Lockhoff, M., Fell, F., Forsythe, J., Trent, T., Bennartz, R., Borbas, E., Bosilovich, M. G., Castelli, E., Hersbach, H., Kachi, M., Kobayashi, S., Kursinski, E. R., Loyola, D., Mears, C., Preusker, R., Rossow, W. B., and Saha, S.: The GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment archive of water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1093–1117, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1093-2018, 2018. a, b, c
Schröder, M., Lockhoff, M., Shi, L., August, T., Bennartz, R., Brogniez, H., Calbet, X., Fell, F., Forsythe, J., Gambacorta, A., Ho, S., Kursinski, E. R., Reale, A., Trent, T., and Yang, Q.: The GEWEX water vapor assessment: Overview and introduction to results and recommendations, Remote Sens., 11, 251, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11030251, 2019. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h
Schröder, M., Danne, O., Falk, U., Niedorf, A., Preusker, R., Trent, T., Brockmann, C., Fischer, J., Hegglin, M., Hollmann, R., and Pinnock, S.: A combined high resolution global TCWV product from microwave and near infrared imagers – COMBI, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/COMBI/V001, 2023. a, b
Seemann, S. W., Li, J., Menzel, W. P., and Gumley, L. E.: Operational retrieval of atmospheric temperature, moisture, and ozone from MODIS infrared radiances, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 42, 1072–1091, 2003. a
Sherwood, S., Roca, R., Weckwerth, T., and Andronova, N.: Tropospheric water vapor, convection, and climate, Rev. Geophys., 48, RG2001, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009RG000301, 2010. a
Shi, L., Schreck, C. I., and Schröder, M.: Assessing the pattern differences between satellite-observed upper tropospheric humidity and total column water vapor during major El Niño events, Remote Sens., 10, 1188, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10081188, 2018. a
Slivinski, L. C., Compo, G. P., Whitaker, J. S., Sardeshmukh, P. D., Giese, B. S., McColl, C., Allan, R., Yin, X., Vose, R., Titchner, H., Kennedy, J., Spencer, L. J., Ashcroft, L., Brönnimann, S., Brunet, M., Camuffo, D., Cornes, R., Cram, T. A., Crouthamel, R., Domínguez-Castro, F., Freeman, J. E., Gergis, J., Hawkins, E., Jones, P., Jourdain, S., Kaplan, A., Kubota, H., Blancq, F. L., Lee, T., Lorrey, A., Luterbacher, J., Maugeri, M., Mock, C. J., Moore, G. W. K., Przybylak, R., Pudmenzky, C., Reason, C., Slonosky, V. C., Smith, C. A., Tinz, B., Trewin, B., Valente, M. A., Wang, X. L., Wilkinson, C., Wood, K., and Wyszyński, P.: Towards a more reliable historical reanalysis: Improvements for version 3 of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis system, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 145, 2876–2908, 2019. a, b, c
Slivinski, L. C., Compo, G. P., Sardeshmukh, P. D., Whitaker, J. S., McColl, C., Allan, R. J., Brohan, P., Yin, X., Smith, C. A., Spencer, L. J., Vose, R. S., Rohrer, M., Conroy, R. P., Schuster, D. C., Kennedy, J. J., Ashcroft, L., Brönnimann, S., Brunet, M., Camuffo, D., Cornes, R., Cram, T. A., Domínguez-Castro, F., Freeman, J. E., Gergis, J., Hawkins, E., Jones, P. D., Kubota, H., Lee, T. C., Lorrey, A. M., Luterbacher, J., Mock, C. J., Przybylak, R. K., Pudmenzky, C., Slonosky, V. C., Tinz, B., Trewin, B., Wang, X. L., Wilkinson, C., Wood, K., and Wyszyński, P.: An evaluation of the performance of the twentieth century reanalysis version 3, J. Climate, 34, 1417–1438, 2021. a
Sohn, B.-J. and Bennartz, R.: Contribution of water vapor to observational estimates of longwave cloud radiative forcing, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 113, D20107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010053, 2008. a
Stephens, G. L., Hakuba, M. Z., Webb, M. J., Lebsock, M., Yue, Q., Kahn, B. H., Hristova-Veleva, S., Rapp, A. D., Stubenrauch, C. J., Elsaesser, G. S., and Slingo, J.: Regional intensification of the tropical hydrological cycle during ENSO, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 4361–4370, 2018. a
Susskind, J., Barnet, C. D., and Blaisdell, J. M.: Retrieval of atmospheric and surface parameters from AIRS/AMSU/HSB data in the presence of clouds, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 41, 390–409, 2003. a
Susskind, J., Blaisdell, J., Iredell, L., Lee, J., Milstein, A., Barnet, C., Fishbein, E., Manning, E., Strow, L., Teixeira, J., Fetzer, E. J., Yue, Q., and Thrastarson, H. T.: AIRS-Team Retrieval For Core Products and Geophysical Parameters: Versions 6 and 7 Level 2, Jet Propulsion, https://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atbd/20070301_L2_ATBD_signed.pdf (last access: 31 October 2022), 2020. a
Tabata, T., John, V. O., Roebeling, R. A., Hewison, T., and Schulz, J.: Recalibration of over 35 years of infrared and water vapor channel radiances of the JMA geostationary satellites, Remote Sens., 11, 1189, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11101189, 2019. a
Thompson, D. W. and Wallace, J. M.: The Arctic Oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 1297–1300, 1998. a
Trenberth, K. E., Fasullo, J., and Smith, L.: Trends and variability in column-integrated atmospheric water vapour, Clim. Dynam., 24, 741–758, 2005. a
Wagner, T., Heland, J., Zöger, M., and Platt, U.: A fast H2O total column density product from GOME – Validation with in-situ aircraft measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 3, 651–663, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-3-651-2003, 2003. a
Wagner, T., Beirle, S., Grzegorski, M., and Platt, U.: Global trends (1996–2003) of total column precipitable water observed by Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) on ERS-2 and their relation to near-surface temperature, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 111, D12102, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006523, 2006. a
Wagner, T., Beirle, S., Dörner, S., Borger, C., and Van Malderen, R.: Identification of atmospheric and oceanic teleconnection patterns in a 20-year global data set of the atmospheric water vapour column measured from satellites in the visible spectral range, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5315–5353, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5315-2021, 2021. a
Wang, X. L.: Penalized maximal F test for detecting undocumented mean shift without trend change, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 25, 368–384, 2008a. a
Wang, X. L.: Accounting for autocorrelation in detecting mean shifts in climate data series using the penalized maximal t or F test., J. App. Meteorol. Clim., 47, 2423–2444, 2008b. a
Weatherhead, E. C., Reinsel, G. C., Tiao, G. C., Meng, X., Choi, D., Cheang, W., Keller, T., DeLuisi, J., Wuebbles, D. J., Kerr, J. B., Miller, A. J., Oltmans, S. J., and Frederick, J. E.: Factors affecting the detection of trends: Statistical considerations and applications to environmental data, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 103, 17149–17161, 1998. a, b
Whitaker, J. S., Compo, G. P., Wei, X., and Hamill, T. M.: Reanalysis without radiosondes using ensemble data assimilation, Mon. Weather Rev., 132, 1190–1200, 2004. a
Zhang, Y., Wallace, J. M., and Battisti, D. S.: ENSO-like interdecadal variability: 1900–93, J. Climate, 10, 1004–1020, 1997. a
Short summary
In a warmer future, water vapour will spend more time in the atmosphere, changing global rainfall patterns. In this study, we analysed the performance of 28 water vapour records between 1988 and 2014. We find sensitivity to surface warming generally outside expected ranges, attributed to breakpoints in individual record trends and differing representations of climate variability. The implication is that longer records are required for high confidence in assessing climate trends.
In a warmer future, water vapour will spend more time in the atmosphere, changing global...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint