Intercomparison and evaluation of ground- and satellite-based stratospheric ozone and temperature profiles above Observatoire de Haute-Provence during the Lidar Validation NDACC Experiment (LAVANDE)
TL;DR: In this article, a two-part intercomparison campaign was conducted at L'Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) for the validation of lidar ozone and temperature profiles using the mobile NASA Stratospheric Ozone Lidar (NASA STROZ), satellite overpasses from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER), meteorological radiosondes launched from Nimes, and locally launched ozonesondes.
Abstract: . A two-part inter-comparison campaign was conducted at L'Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) for the validation of lidar ozone and temperature profiles using the mobile NASA Stratospheric Ozone Lidar (NASA STROZ), satellite overpasses from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER), meteorological radiosondes launched from Nimes, and locally launched ozonesondes. All the data were submitted and compared blind , before the group could see results from the other instruments. There was good agreement between all ozone measurements between 20 and 40 km with differences of generally less than 5 % throughout this region. Below 20 km SABER and MLS measured significantly more ozone than the lidars or ozone sondes. Temperatures for all lidars were in good agreement between 30 and 60 km with differences on the order of ±1 to 3 K. Below 30 km, the OHP lidar operating at 532 nm has a significant cool bias due to contamination by aerosols. Systematic, altitude varying bias up to ±5 K compared to the lidars was found for MLS at many altitudes. SABER temperature profiles are generally closer to the lidar profiles, with up 3 K negative bias near 50 km. Uncertainty estimates for ozone and temperature appear to be realistic for nearly all systems. However, it does seem that the very low estimated uncertainties of lidars between 30 and 50 km, between 0.1 and 1 K, are not achieved during LidAr VAlidation NDacc Experiment (LAVANDE). These estimates might have to be increased to 1 to 2 K.
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19 Dec 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used an optimal estimation method (OEM) to estimate the temperature in the middle atmosphere with Rayleigh-scatter lidars, which allows a full uncertainty budget to be obtained on a per profile basis that includes, in addition to the statistical uncertainties, the smoothing error and uncertainties due to Rayleigh extinction, ozone absorption, lidar constant, nonlinearity in the counting system, variation of the Rayleigh scatter cross section with altitude, pressure, acceleration due to gravity, and the variation of mean molecular mass with altitude.
Abstract: The measurement of temperature in the middle atmosphere with Rayleigh-scatter lidars is an important technique for assessing atmospheric change. Current retrieval schemes for this temperature have several shortcomings, which can be overcome by using an optimal estimation method (OEM). Forward models are presented that completely characterize the measurement and allow the simultaneous retrieval of temperature, dead time, and background. The method allows a full uncertainty budget to be obtained on a per profile basis that includes, in addition to the statistical uncertainties, the smoothing error and uncertainties due to Rayleigh extinction, ozone absorption, lidar constant, nonlinearity in the counting system, variation of the Rayleigh-scatter cross section with altitude, pressure, acceleration due to gravity, and the variation of mean molecular mass with altitude. The vertical resolution of the temperature profile is found at each height, and a quantitative determination is made of the maximum height to which the retrieval is valid. A single temperature profile can be retrieved from measurements with multiple channels that cover different height ranges, vertical resolutions, and even different detection methods. The OEM employed is shown to give robust estimates of temperature, which are consistent with previous methods, while requiring minimal computational time. This demonstrated success of lidar temperature retrievals using an OEM opens new possibilities in atmospheric science for measurement integration between active and passive remote sensing instruments.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the performance of the ERA-interim and ERA-5 reanalyses with the results of the COSMIC GPSRO and EOS MLS data.
Abstract: . To advance our understanding of the stratosphere, high quality observational datasets of the upper atmosphere are needed. It is commonplace that reanalysis is used to conduct stratospheric studies. However the accuracy of the standard reanalysis at these heights is hard to infer due to a lack of in-situ measurements. Satellite measurements provide one source of temperature information. As some satellite information is already assimilated into reanalyses, the direct comparison of satellite temperatures to the reanalysis is not truly independent. Stratospheric lidars use Rayleigh scattering to measure density in the upper atmosphere, allowing temperature profiles to be derived for altitudes from 30 km (where Mie scattering due to stratospheric aerosols becomes negligible) to 80–90 km (where the signal-to-noise begins to drop rapidly). The Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) contains several lidars at different latitudes that have measured atmospheric temperatures since the 1970s, resulting in a long running upper-stratospheric temperature dataset. These temperature datasets are useful for validating reanalysis datasets in the stratosphere, as they are not assimilated into reanalyses. Here we take stratospheric temperature data from lidars in the northern hemisphere for winter months between 1990–2017 and compare them with the European Centre for ECMWF's ERA-interim and ERA-5 reanalyses. To give confidence in any bias found, temperature data from NASA's EOS Microwave Limb Sounder is also compared to ERA-interim and ERA-5 at points over the lidar sites. In ERA-interim a cold bias of −3 to −4 K between 10 hPa and 1 hPa is found when compared to both measurement systems. Comparisons with ERA-5 found a small bias of magnitude 1 K which varies between cold and warm bias with height between 10 hPa and 3 hPa, indicating a good thermal representation of the upper atmosphere to 3 hPa. At heights above this, comparisons with EOS MLS yield a slight warm bias and the temperature lidar yield a cold bias. A further comparison is undertaken to see the effects of the assimilation of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A satellite data and the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate GPS Radio Occulation (COSMIC GPSRO) data on stratospheric temperatures. By comparing periods before and after the introduction of each data source it is clear that COSMIC GPSRO improves the cold bias in the 3 hPa to 0.5 hPa altitude range.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this article , a principal component analysis of the fluctuations of the temperature differences between the LiDAR and ERA-5 was performed to investigate the vertical coupling between 30 km and 70 km.
Abstract: In this study, the temperature biases and the ability of the ERA-5 product to reproduce the LiDAR variability in the 30–80 km altitude range were evaluated for the period 2005–2020, both for the winter and the summer months. During winter, temperatures from the ERA-5 dataset were in good agreement with LiDAR observations up to 45 km, while in the mesosphere, almost 70% of the ERA-5 profiles were cooler than those from LiDAR, except around 65 km. During summer, negative biases of −3 K were observed up to the stratopause, while significant positive biases of more than +10 K were found in the mesosphere. For the winter months, the variability observed by LiDAR, even during sudden stratospheric warming (SSWs) events, was reproduced accurately by the model in the upper stratosphere, but not in the mesosphere. Surprisingly, the LiDAR variability mainly due to propagating gravity waves in the summertime was also not reproduced by ERA-5 in the whole middle atmosphere. The model uncertainty associated with this variability, evaluated afterward with a new method, grew as expected with altitude and was more significant in winter than summer. A principal component analysis of the fluctuations of the temperature differences between the LiDAR and ERA-5 was performed to investigate the vertical coupling between 30 km and 70 km. The three first vertical modes illustrated 76% and 78% of the fluctuations of the temperature difference profiles in summer and winter, respectively, confirming the connection between the studied layers. The leading modes of the summer (49%) and winter (42%) possessed an anti-correlation between the upper stratosphere and the mesosphere, where fluctuations increased (at least ±5 K at 65 km) for both seasons due to the coarse vertical resolution in the model. The other modes showed an agreement between the LiDAR and ERA-5 fluctuations in the upper stratosphere and had a wave-like structure mainly located in the mesosphere, confirming that the model either overlooked or simulated imprecisely the gravity waves, leading to mesospheric inversions. Finally, SSWs impacted the ERA-5 temperature (deviation of ±3K) some days before and after its trigger around the stratopause.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , a climatology of Mesospheric Inversion Layers (MIL) was created using the Rayleigh lidar located in the south of France at L’Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) using criteria based on lidar measurement uncertainties and climatological mean gravity wave amplitudes.
Abstract: A climatology of Mesospheric Inversion Layers (MIL) has been created using the Rayleigh lidar located in the south of France at L’Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP). Using criteria based on lidar measurement uncertainties and climatological mean gravity wave amplitudes, we have selected significant large temperature anomalies that can be associated with MILs. We have tested a novel approach for classifying MILs based on a k-mean clustering technique. We supplied different parameters such as the MIL amplitudes, altitudes, vertical extension, and lapse rate and allowed the computer to classify each individual MIL into one of three clusters or classes. For this first proof of concept study, we selected k = 3 and arrived at three distinct MIL clusters, each of which can be associated with different processes generating MILs in different regimes. All clusters of MIL exhibit a strong seasonal cycle with the largest occurrence in winter. The four decades of measurements do not reveal any long-term changes that can be associated with climate changes and only show an inter-annual variability with a quasi-decadal oscillation.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a newly upgraded German weather service ozone and temperature lidar (HOH) located at the Hohenpeisenberg Meteorological Observatory (47.8°N, 11.0°E) has been evaluated through comparison with the travelling standard lidar operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA STROZ), satellite overpasses from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER), the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS),
Abstract: A newly upgraded German Weather Service (DWD) ozone and temperature lidar (HOH) located at the Hohenpeisenberg Meteorological Observatory (47.8° N, 11.0° E) has been evaluated through comparison with the travelling standard lidar operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA STROZ), satellite overpasses from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER), the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), meteorological radiosondes launched from Munchen (65 km north-east), and locally launched ozonesondes. The blind evaluation was conducted under the framework of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) using 10 clear nights of measurements in 2018 and 2019. This campaign was conducted within the larger context of NDACC validation activities for European lidar stations. The previous 2017–2018 validation campaign took place at the French Observatoire de Haute Provence and and showed a high degree of fidelity between participating instruments. The results are reported in the companion article (Wing et al., 2020).
There was good agreement between all ozone lidar measurements in the range of 15 to 41 km with relative differences between co-located ozone profiles of less than ±10 %. Differences in the measured ozone numbers densities between the lidars and the locally launched ozone sondes were also generally less than 5 % below 30 km. The satellite ozone profiles demonstrated some differences with respect to the ground based lidars which are due to sampling differences and geophysical variation.
Temperatures differences for all instruments were less than ±5 K below 60 km, with larger differences present in the lidar-satellite comparisons above this region. Temperature differences between the lidars met the NDACC accuracy requirements of ±1 K between 17 and 78 km. The NASA lidar exhibited slightly colder temperatures, between 5 and 10 K, than the other instruments below 20 km and slightly warmer temperatures, 5 to 10 K, above 70 km. These differences are likely due to algorithm initialisation choices and photon count saturation corrections.
4 citations
Cites methods from "Intercomparison and evaluation of g..."
...Following the same statistical comparison technique used in the companion Wing et al. (2020) article, we will assume that there is no correlation between the average measurement noise for the lidars....
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...When providing context for Hohenpeißenberg Ozone Profiling Study (HOPS) campaign, we will refer back to the 2017– 2018 LAVANDE campaign (Wing et al., 2020) and the previous validation campaign at Hohenpeißenberg called HOPE (Hohenpeißenberg Ozone Profiling Experiment) (Steinbrecht et al., 2009)....
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...We invite readers seeking more details of NDACC lidar validation activities to consult the companion paper (LAVANDE; Wing et al., 2020) and other NDACC studies: STOIC (Margitan et al., 1995); OPAL (McDermid et al., 1998); OTIC (Braathen et al., 2004); NAOMI (Steinbrecht et al., 1999); HOPE…...
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...As was previously reported in Wing et al. (2020), the OHP temperature lidar was discovered to have a faulty photomultiplier tube in the low-gain channel (0 to 50 km) which accounts for the warm bias between 30 and 50 km....
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References
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TL;DR: The Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder measures several atmospheric chemical species to improve the authors' understanding of stratospheric ozone chemistry, the interaction of composition and climate, and pollution in the upper troposphere.
Abstract: The Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder measures several atmospheric chemical species (OH, HO/sub 2/, H/sub 2/O, O/sub 3/, HCl, ClO, HOCl, BrO, HNO/sub 3/, N/sub 2/O, CO, HCN, CH/sub 3/CN, volcanic SO/sub 2/), cloud ice, temperature, and geopotential height to improve our understanding of stratospheric ozone chemistry, the interaction of composition and climate, and pollution in the upper troposphere. All measurements are made simultaneously and continuously, during both day and night. The instrument uses heterodyne radiometers that observe thermal emission from the atmospheric limb in broad spectral regions centered near 118, 190, 240, and 640 GHz, and 2.5 THz. It was launched July 15, 2004 on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Aura satellite and started full-up science operations on August 13, 2004. An atmospheric limb scan and radiometric calibration for all bands are performed routinely every 25 s. Vertical profiles are retrieved every 165 km along the suborbital track, covering 82/spl deg/S to 82/spl deg/N latitudes on each orbit. Instrument performance to date has been excellent; data have been made publicly available; and initial science results have been obtained.
1,191 citations
20 Oct 1999
TL;DR: The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment is one of four experiments that will fly on the TIMED mission to be launched in May 2000.
Abstract: The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment is one of four experiments that will fly on the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics (TIMED) mission to be launched in May 2000. The primary science goal of SABER is to achieve major advances in understanding the structure, energetics, chemistry, and dynamics, in the atmospheric region extending from 60 km to 180 km altitude. This will be accomplished using the space flight proven experiment approach of spectral broadband limb emission radiometry. SABER will scan the horizon in 10 selected bands ranging from 1.27 micrometer to 17 micrometer wavelength. The observed vertical horizon emission profiles will be processed on the ground to provide vertical profiles with 2 km altitude resolution, of temperature, O3, H2O, and CO2; volume emission rates due to O2(1(Delta) ), OH((upsilon) equals 3,4,5), OH((upsilon) equals 7,8,9), and NO; key atmospheric cooling rates, solar heating rates, chemical heating rates, airglow losses; geostrophic winds, atomic oxygen and atomic hydrogen. Measurements will be made both night and day over the latitude range from the southern to northern polar regions. The SABER instrument uses an on-axis Cassegrain design with a clam shell reimager. Preliminary test and calibration results show excellent radiometric performance.
608 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a lidar system based at the Haute-Provence Observatory (44°N, 6°E) has been used to obtain night-time density and temperature profiles in the altitude range 35-70 km.
Abstract: A lidar system based at the Haute-Provence Observatory (44°N, 6°E) has been used to obtain night-time density and temperature profiles in the altitude range 35-70 km. If the lidar results are normalized to an in-situ rocket sounding from 35 to 40 km, the lidar and rocket profiles are in quite good agreement up to about 50 km. Differences are sometimes noted around 55 km, and these could possibly be caused by an aerosol layer.
434 citations
"Intercomparison and evaluation of g..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Dedicated temperature lidars at OHP have been providing routine stratospheric and mesospheric temperature profiles since 1978 (Hauchecorne and Chanin, 1980)....
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...The absolute temperature profile is directly derived from the range-square corrected lidar return signal (Hauchecorne and Chanin, 1980)....
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...In addition to making measurements of ozone, the offline of a DIAL system (355 nm) can be used to calculate Rayleigh temperature (Hauchecorne and Chanin, 1980)....
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...…temperature profiles taken during LAVANDE are derived from the non-absorbing 355 nm line of the two ozone lidars (LiO3S and NASA STROZ) and from the dedicated stratospheric and mesospheric temperature Rayleigh lidar at OHP (Hauchecorne and Chanin, 1980), nowadays using a Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm....
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California Institute of Technology1, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology2, University of York3, University of Waterloo4, Leibniz Association5, Langley Research Center6, Goddard Space Flight Center7, Hampton University8, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts9, University of Toronto10
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the retrievals algorithm used to determine temperature and height from radiance measurements by the Microwave Limb Sounder on EOS Aura, which is a "limbscanning" instrument, meaning that it views the atmosphere along paths that do not intersect the surface.
Abstract: This paper describes the retrievals algorithm used to determine temperature and height from radiance measurements by the Microwave Limb Sounder on EOS Aura. MLS is a "limbscanning" instrument, meaning that it views the atmosphere along paths that do not intersect the surface - it actually looks forwards from the Aura satellite. This means that the temperature retrievals are for a "profile" of the atmosphere somewhat ahead of the satellite. Because of the need to view a finite sample of the atmosphere, the sample spans a box about 1.5km deep and several tens of kilometers in width; the optical characteristics of the atmosphere mean that the sample is representative of a tube about 200-300km long in the direction of view. The retrievals use temperature analyses from NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System, Version 5 (GEOS-5) data assimilation system as a priori states. The temperature retrievals are somewhat deperrde~zt on these a priori states, especially in the lower stratosphere. An important part of the validation of any new dataset involves comparison with other, independent datasets. A large part of this study is concerned with such comparisons, using a number of independent space-based measurements obtained using different techniques, and with meteorological analyses. The MLS temperature data are shown to have biases that vary with height, but also depend on the validation dataset. MLS data are apparently biased slightly cold relative to correlative data in the upper troposphere and slightly warm in the middle stratosphere. A warm MLS bias in the upper stratosphere may be due to a cold bias in GEOS-5 temperatures.
412 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted quality assurance experiments of electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes of two different model types (SPC-6A and ENSCI-Z) under the framework of the Juelich Ozone Sonde Intercomparison Experiment (JOSIE).
Abstract: [1] Since 1996, quality assurance experiments of electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes of two different model types (SPC-6A and ENSCI-Z) have been conducted in the environmental simulation facility at the Research Centre Juelich within the framework of the Juelich Ozone Sonde Intercomparison Experiment (JOSIE). The experiments have shown that the performance characteristics of the two ECC-sonde types can be significantly different, even when operated under the same conditions. Particularly above 20 km the ENSCI-Z sonde tends to measure 5–10% more ozone than the SPC-6A sonde. Below 20 km the differences are 5% or less, but appear to show some differences with year of manufacture. There is a significant difference in the ozone readings when sondes of the same type are operated with different cathode sensing solutions. Testing the most commonly used sensing solutions showed that for each ECC-manufacturer type the use of 1.0% KI and full buffer gives 5% larger ozone values compared with the use of 0.5% KI and half buffer, and as much as 10% larger values compared with 2.0% KI and no buffer. For ozone sounding stations performing long term measurements this means that changing the sensing solution type or ECC-sonde type can easily introduce a change of ±5% or more in their records, affecting determination of ozone trends. Standardization of operating procedures for ECC-sondes yields a precision better than ±(3–5)% and an accuracy of about ±(5–10)% up to 30 km altitude.
302 citations
"Intercomparison and evaluation of g..." refers methods in this paper
...A known positive bias of the ENSCI ECC data in the troposphere when using 1 % KI concentration (Smit et al., 2007) is corrected by decreasing the ECC ozone concentration by 4 % below the tropopause (Gaudel et al., 2015)....
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