Abstract. The accurate monitoring of climate change imposes strict requirements upon observing systems, in particular regarding measurement accuracy and long-term stability. Currently available data records of the essential climate variables (temperature-T , geopotential-p, humidity-RH, wind, and cloud properties) in the upper-air generally fail to fulfil such requirements. This raises serious issues about the ability to detect, quantify and understand recent climate changes and their causes. GCOS is currently implementing a Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) in order to fill this major void within the global observing system. As part of the GRUAN implementation plan we provide herein fundamental guidelines for establishing and maintaining reference quality atmospheric observations which are based on principal concepts of metrology, in particular traceability. It is argued that the detailed analysis of the uncertainty budget of a measurement technique is the critical step for achieving this goal. As we will demonstrate with an example, detailed knowledge of the calibration procedures and data processing algorithms are required for determining the uncertainty of each individual data point. Of particular importance is the careful assessment of the uncertainties introduced by correction schemes adjusting for systematic effects.
Abstract. This paper describes the statistical analysis of annual trends in long term datasets of greenhouse gas measurements taken over ten or more years. The analysis technique employs a bootstrap resampling method to determine both the long-term and intra-annual variability of the datasets, together with the uncertainties on the trend values. The method has been applied to data from a European network of groundbased solar FTIR instruments to determine the trends in the tropospheric, stratospheric and total columns of ozone, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, methane, ethane and HCFC-22. The suitability of the method has been demonstrated through statistical validation of the technique, and comparison with ground-based in-situ measurements and 3-D atmospheric models.
Abstract. Within the European project UFTIR (Time series of Upper Free Troposphere observations from an European ground-based FTIR network), six ground-based stations in Western Europe, from 79° N to 28° N, all equipped with Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) instruments and part of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), have joined their efforts to evaluate the trends of several direct and indirect greenhouse gases over the period 1995–2004. The retrievals of CO, CH4, C2H6, N2O, CHClF2, and O3 have been optimized. Using the optimal estimation method, some vertical information can be obtained in addition to total column amounts. A bootstrap resampling method has been implemented to determine annual partial and total column trends for the target gases. The present work focuses on the ozone results. The retrieved time series of partial and total ozone columns are validated with ground-based correlative data (Brewer, Dobson, UV-Vis, ozonesondes, and Lidar). The observed total column ozone trends are in agreement with previous studies: 1) no total column ozone trend is seen at the lowest latitude station Izaña (28° N); 2) slightly positive total column trends are seen at the two mid-latitude stations Zugspitze and Jungfraujoch (47° N), only one of them being significant; 3) the highest latitude stations Harestua (60° N), Kiruna (68° N) and Ny-Ålesund (79° N) show significant positive total column trends. Following the vertical information contained in the ozone FTIR retrievals, we provide partial columns trends for the layers: ground-10 km, 10–18 km, 18–27 km, and 27–42 km, which helps to distinguish the contributions from dynamical and chemical changes on the total column ozone trends. We obtain no statistically significant trends in the ground-10 km layer for five out of the six ground-based stations. We find significant positive trends for the lowermost stratosphere at the two mid-latitude stations, and at Ny-Ålesund. We find smaller, but significant trends for the 18–27 km layer at Kiruna, Harestua, Jungfraujoch, and Izaña. The results for the upper layer are quite contrasted: we find significant positive trends at Kiruna, Harestua, and Jungfraujoch, and significant negative trends at Zugspitze and Izaña. These ozone partial columns trends are discussed and compared with previous studies.
We present the first implementation of mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy with an optical parametric oscillator. Methane absorption spectroscopy was demonstrated with a resolution of 0.2 cm(-1) (5 GHz) at an acquisition time of ~10.4 ms over a spectral coverage at 2900-3050 cm(-1). The average power from each individual mid-infrared comb line was ~1 μW, representing a power level much greater than typical difference-frequency-generation sources. Mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy opens up unique opportunities to perform broadband spectroscopic measurements with high resolution, high requisition rate, and high detection sensitivity.
A detailed spectrally resolved extraterrestrial solar spectrum (ESS) is important for line‐by‐line radiative transfer modeling in the near‐IR. Very few observationally based high‐resolution ESS are available in this spectral region. Consequently, the theoretically calculated ESS by Kurucz has been widely adopted. We present the CAVIAR (Continuum Absorption at Visible and Infrared Wavelengths and its Atmospheric Relevance) ESS, which is derived using the Langley technique applied to calibrated observations using a ground‐based high‐resolution Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) in atmospheric windows from 2000 to 10,000 cm–1 (1–5 µm). There is good agreement between the strengths and positions of solar lines between the CAVIAR and the satellite‐based Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment‐FTS ESS, in the spectral region where they overlap, and good agreement with other ground‐based FTS measurements in two near‐IR windows. However, there are significant differences in the structure between the CAVIAR ESS and spectra from semiempirical models. In addition, we found a difference of up to 8% in the absolute (and hence the wavelength‐integrated) irradiance between the CAVIAR ESS and that of Thuillier et al., which was based on measurements from the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science satellite and other sources. In many spectral regions, this difference is significant, because the coverage factor k = 2 (or 95% confidence limit) uncertainties in the two sets of observations do not overlap. Because the total solar irradiance is relatively well constrained, if the CAVIAR ESS is correct, then this would indicate an integrated “loss” of solar irradiance of about 30 W m–2 in the near‐IR that would have to be compensated by an increase at other wavelengths.
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