Articles | Volume 25, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2947-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2947-2025
Research article
 | 
11 Mar 2025
Research article |  | 11 Mar 2025

What can we learn about tropospheric OH from satellite observations of methane?

Elise Penn, Daniel J. Jacob, Zichong Chen, James D. East, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lori Bruhwiler, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Yuzhong Zhang, and John Worden

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Cited articles

Anderson, D. C., Duncan, B. N., Fiore, A. M., Baublitz, C. B., Follette-Cook, M. B., Nicely, J. M., and Wolfe, G. M.: Spatial and temporal variability in the hydroxyl (OH) radical: understanding the role of large-scale climate features and their influence on OH through its dynamical and photochemical drivers, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6481–6508, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6481-2021, 2021. 
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Boesch, H., Baker, D., Connor, B., Crisp, D., and Miller, C.: Global Characterization of CO2 Column Retrievals from Shortwave-Infrared Satellite Observations of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Mission, Remote Sens., 3, 270–304, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs3020270, 2011. 
Bousquet, P., Hauglustaine, D. A., Peylin, P., Carouge, C., and Ciais, P.: Two decades of OH variability as inferred by an inversion of atmospheric transport and chemistry of methyl chloroform, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 2635–2656, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-2635-2005, 2005. 
Corbett, A., Jiang, X., Xiong, X., Kao, A., and Li, L.: Modulation of midtropospheric methane by El Niño: Modulation of Methane by El Niño, Earth and Space Science, 4, 590–596, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EA000281, 2017. 
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Short summary
The hydroxyl radical (OH) destroys many air pollutants, including methane. Global-mean OH cannot be directly measured, and thus it is inferred with the methyl chloroform (MCF) proxy. MCF is decreasing, and a replacement is needed. We use satellite observations of methane in two spectral ranges as a proxy for OH. We find shortwave infrared observations can characterize yearly OH and its seasonality but not the latitudinal distribution. Thermal infrared observations add little information.
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