Validation of Aura-OMI QA4ECV NO <sub>2</sub> climate data records with ground-based DOAS networks: the role of measurement and comparison uncertainties
Steven Compernolle, Tijl Verhoelst, Gaïa Pinardi, J. Granville, Daan Hubert, Arno Keppens, Sander Niemeijer, Bruno Rino, Alkiviadis Bais, Steffen Beirle, K. F. Boersma, John P. Burrows, Isabelle De Smedt, Henk Eskes, F. Goutail, François Hendrick, Alba Lorente, Andréa Pazmiño, Ankie Piters, Enno Peters, Jean‐Pierre Pommereau, Julia Remmers, Andreas Richter, Jos van Geffen, Michel Van Roozendaël, Thomas Wagner, Jean‐Christopher Lambert
Abstract
Abstract. The QA4ECV (Quality Assurance for Essential Climate Variables) version 1.1 stratospheric and tropospheric NO2 vertical column density (VCD) climate data records (CDRs) from the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite sensor are validated using NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) zenith-scattered light differential optical absorption spectroscopy (ZSL-DOAS) and multi-axis DOAS (MAX-DOAS) data as a reference. The QA4ECV OMI stratospheric VCDs have a small bias of ∼0.2 Pmolec.cm-2 (5 %–10 %) and a dispersion of 0.2 to 1 Pmolec.cm-2 with respect to the ZSL-DOAS measurements. QA4ECV tropospheric VCD observations from OMI are restricted to near-cloud-free scenes, leading to a negative sampling bias (with respect to the unrestricted scene ensemble) of a few peta molecules per square centimetre (Pmolec.cm-2) up to −10 Pmolec.cm-2 (−40 %) in one extreme high-pollution case. The QA4ECV OMI tropospheric VCD has a negative bias with respect to the MAX-DOAS data (−1 to −4 Pmolec.cm-2), which is a feature also found for the OMI OMNO2 standard data product. The tropospheric VCD discrepancies between satellite measurements and ground-based data greatly exceed the combined measurement uncertainties. Depending on the site, part of the discrepancy can be attributed to a combination of comparison errors (notably horizontal smoothing difference error), measurement/retrieval errors related to clouds and aerosols, and the difference in vertical smoothing and a priori profile assumptions.