Simulations of Aerosol Optical Properties to Top of Atmospheric Reflected Sunlight in the Near Infrared CO_2 Weak Absorption Band

Over the Asian continent,high aerosol loading is critical to ensure the high accuracy of CO_2 retrieval in the near infrared absorption band.Simulations were performed to explore the effect of light path modification by aerosol son the atmospheric CO_2 near infrared band(6140-6270 cm^(-1)).The Vector LInearized Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer(VLIDORT) model and the Line-By-Line Radiative Transfer Model(LBLRTM) were used for forward calculations.The U.S.standard atmosphere was used for atmospheric profiles.The results indicate that the aerosols caused similar effects to increases in CO_2 in the planetary boundary layer and became more significant with aerosol layer rising while aerosol optical depth was 0.1.This effect will cause an over estimation of the CO_2 mixing ratio in the retrieval process and an under estimation in the aerosol layer.The results also indicate that the effect of urban and industrial aerosols is smaller than that of non-absorbing and dust aerosols because of the nearly constant absorption properties in the near infrared band.

Real-data assimilation experiment with a joint data assimilation system: assimilating carbon dioxide mole fraction measurements from the Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite

The performance of a joint data assimilation system（Tan-Tracker）,which is based on the PODEn4 Dvar assimilation method,in assimilating Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite（GOSAT） carbon dioxide（CO2） data,was evaluated.Atmospheric 3D CO2 concentrations and CO2 surface fluxes（CFs） from2010 were simulated using a global chemistry transport model（GEOS-Chem）.TheTan-Tracker system used the simulated CO2 concentrations and fluxes as a background field and assimilated the GOSAT column average dry-air mole fraction of CO2（X（CO2）） data to optimize CO2 concentrations and CFs in the same assimilation window.Monthly simulated X（CO2）（X（CO2）Sim）） and assimilated X（CO2）（X（CO2）,TT） data retrieved at different satellite scan positions were compared with GOSAT-observed X（CO2）（X（CO2）,obs）data.The average RMSE between the monthly X（CO2）,TT and X（CO2）,Obs data was significantly（30%） lower than the average RMSE between X（CO2）,Sim and X（CO2）,Obs）.Specifically,reductions in error were found for the positions of northern Africa（the Sahara）,the Indian peninsula,southern Africa,southern North America,and western Australia.The difference between the correlation coefficients of the X（CO2）,Sim）and X（CO2）,Obs and those of the X（CO2）Π）,TT and X（CO2）,Obs was only small.In general,the Tan-Tracker system performed very well after assimilating the GOSAT data.

Sensitivity of the simulated CO2 concentration to inter-annual variations of its sources and sinks over East Asia

The study on how the variations in CO2 sources and sinks can affect the CO2 concentration over East Asia would be useful to provide information for policymaker concerning carbon emission reduction.In this study,a nested-grid version of global chemical transport model(GEOS-Chem)is employed to assess the impacts of variations in meteorological parameters,terrestrial fluxes,fossil fuel emissions,and biomass burning on inter-annual variations of CO2 concentrations over East Asia in 2004—2012.Simulated CO2 concentrations are compared with observations at 14 surface stations from the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases(WDCGG)and satellite-derived C 02 column density(XCO,)from the Gases Observing SATellite(GOSAT).The comparison shows that the simulated CO2 column density is generally higher than that of GOSAT by 1.33×10^6(annual mean point by point biases averaged over East Asia).The model reasonably captures the temporal variations of CO2 concentrations observed at the ground-based stations,but it is likely to underestimate the peaks-to-troughs amplitude of the seasonal cycle by 50%or more.The simulated surface CO2 concentration in East Asia exhibits the largest inter-annual variation in December-January—February(DJF).The regional mean absolute deviation(MAD)values over East Asia are within(4.4—5.0)×10^-6 for all seasons.Model sensitivity simulations indicate that the inter-annual variations of surface CO2 concentrations are mainly driven by variations of meteorological parameters,and partly modulated by the inter-annual variations of terrestrial fluxes and fossil fuel emissions in local regions.The variations of the terrestrial fluxes and fossil fuel emissions may account for〜28%of the inter-annual variation of surface CO2 concentration in southern China.The inter-annual variations of the peaks-to-troughs amplitude are dependent on variations of meteorological parameters,terrestrial fluxes and fossil fuel emissions in local regions.The influence of biomass burning emissions is relatively weak.

Sensitivity Studies for Monitoring Tropospheric Ozone from Space Using the Ultraviolet,Visible,and Polarization Bands

The authors analyzed the retrieval sensitivity of tropospheric ozone using simulated the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 （GOME-2） measurements. The retrieval sensitivity was evaluated by the degree of free- dom for signal （DFS）. The combination of the ultraviolet （UV）, UV polarization （UVPOL）, and visible （VIS） bands enhances DFS of tropospheric ozone and improves the vertical resolution of the retrieved ozone profile. UVPOL reduces the dependence on solar zenith angle, mainly in- creases the sensitivity in upper troposphere. Polarization increased the DFS by 20% on the eastern side of the GOME-2 orbit, with little improvement on the western side because the increase in DFS due to polarization is depend- ent on the relative azimuth angle. The inclusion of the visi- ble band reduces significantly the dependence on viewing geometry, and mainly increases the DFS in the lower tro- posphere （0-6 kin） by a factor of two. It was possible to retrieve several independent pieces of tropospheric ozone information from GOME-2 UV/UVPOL/VIS measure- ments, especially in the lower troposphere.