Intercomparison of arctic XH<sub>2</sub>O observations from three ground-based Fourier transform infrared networks and application for satellite validation

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper, we compare column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of water vapor (XH2O) retrievals from the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) with retrievals from two co-located high-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers as references at two boreal sites, Kiruna, Sweden, and Sodankylä, Finland, from 6 March 2017 to 20 September 2019. In the framework of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), an FTIR spectrometer is operated at Kiruna. The H2O product derived from these observations has been generated with the MUlti-platform remote Sensing of Isotopologues for investigating the Cycle of Atmospheric water (MUSICA) processor. In Sodankylä, a Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) spectrometer is operated, and the official XH2O data as provided by TCCON are used for this study. The datasets are in good overall agreement, with COCCON data showing a wet bias of (49.20±58.61) ppm ((3.33±3.37) %, R2=0.9992) compared with MUSICA NDACC and (56.32±45.63) ppm ((3.44±1.77) %, R2=0.9997) compared with TCCON. Furthermore, the a priori H2O volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles (MAP) used as a priori information in the TCCON retrievals (also adopted for COCCON retrievals) are evaluated with respect to radiosonde (Vaisala RS41) profiles at Sodankylä. The MAP and radiosonde profiles show similar shapes and a good linear correlation of integrated XH2O, indicating that MAP is a reasonable approximation of the true atmospheric state and an appropriate choice for the scaling retrieval methods as applied by COCCON and TCCON. COCCON shows a reduced dry bias (−14.96 %) in comparison with TCCON (−19.08 %) with respect to radiosonde XH2O. Finally, we investigate the quality of satellite data at high latitudes. For this purpose, the COCCON XH2O is compared with retrievals from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) generated with the MUSICA processor (MUSICA IASI) and with retrievals from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). Both paired datasets generally show good agreement and similar correlations at the two sites. COCCON measures 4.64 % less XH2O at Kiruna and 3.36 % less at Sodankylä with respect to MUSICA IASI, whereas COCCON measures 9.71 % more XH2O at Kiruna and 7.75 % more at Sodankylä compared with TROPOMI. Our study supports the assumption that COCCON also delivers a well-characterized XH2O data product. This emphasizes that this approach might complement the TCCON network with respect to satellite validation efforts. This is the first published study where COCCON XH2O has been compared with MUSICA NDACC and TCCON retrievals and has been used for MUSICA IASI and TROPOMI validation.

Investigation of spaceborne trace gas products over St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Russia, by using COllaborative Column Carbon Observing Network (COCCON) observations

“…It has been shown in several studies that the results for these GHGs observed by COCCON instruments are in good agreement with official TCCON results (Frey et al, 2021;Sha et al, 2020). With the characteristics of compactness, robustness and portability, these instruments have been successfully used in several field campaigns and continuous deployments Klappenbach et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2016;Butz et al, 2017;Sha et al, 2020;Vogel et al, 2019;Tu et al, 2020Tu et al, , 2021Tu et al, , 2022Jacobs et al, 2020;Frey et al, 2021;Dietrich et al, 2021;Jones et al, 2021). A preprocessing tool and the PROFFAST non-linear least squares fitting algorithm are used for data retrieval.…”

Twenty years of ground-based NDACC FTIR spectrometry at Izaña Observatory – overview and long-term comparison to other techniques

“…De Mazière et al, 2018, and references therein); O 3 and NO 2 measured by OMI and GOME (e.g. Viatte et al, 2011;Robles-González et al, 2016); CO, H 2 CO, and CH 4 measured by TROPOMI (e.g. Borsdorff et al, 2018;Vigouroux et al, 2020;Sha et al, 2021); and O 3 , N 2 O, CH 4 , CO, H 2 O, and isotopologues measured by IASI (e.g.…”

“…Borsdorff et al, 2018;Vigouroux et al, 2020;Sha et al, 2021); and O 3 , N 2 O, CH 4 , CO, H 2 O, and isotopologues measured by IASI (e.g. Viatte et al, 2011;Schneider et al, 2016;García et al, 2016García et al, , 2018. It is worth highlighting that IZO FTIR products, acquired in the framework of TCCON, have also been widely used for satellite validation applications (e.g.…”

Exploration of the variation characteristics of greenhouse gas CO2 and CH4 concentrations in the Hefei region

“…Accurate and effective standard data collection methods and inversion algorithms are essential prerequisites for monitoring the changing trends in global greenhouse gas concentrations and the crucial global carbon cycle [7][8][9][10][11] . Therefore, developed countries, including Europe and the United States, have collaborated to establish the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC).China is one of the countries that initiated early greenhouse gas background observations worldwide.…”