Studying Air Pollution with Kitt Peak Solar Flux Atlas—Analysis Method and Results of Observation

For the measurement of atmospheric NO2 vertical column density (VCD), Kitt Peak Solar Flux Atlas can be substituted as an extraterrestrial solar radiation. Compared with differential analysis method, the Taylor expansion of integrated transfer equation underestimates the VCD. This underestimation is as large as 35% when the amount of NO2 is 1 × 1017 cm?2 and observation is conducted with an air mass factor of 10. Even when the VCD is 2 × 1016 cm?2 and the air mass factor is 4, the relative error of the retrieved VCD is still no less than 3%. If the observation is restricted under the small air mass factor condition (≤ 4), with Kitt Peak Solar spectrum as an extraterrestrial solar radiation, only an atmospheric layer of 2 km thick from ground can be studied, which will make the absorption too weak to be detected by normal instruments. The VCD in winter Tokyo area was observed and analyzed by differential method, which shows a good precision even when the absorption is as low as 3%. The largest average VCD was about 1.3 × 1017 cm-2, and the lowest was about 1.3 × 1016 cm?2. The trend of its variation was almost the same as the ground level observation by Saltzman reagent method. Key words Vertical column density (VCD) - Extraterrestrial solar radiation - NO2 - Atmospheric contamination

Retrieval of ultraviolet skylight radiances and O_3 slant column densities from balloon-borne limb spectrometer

With a novel light-weight and absolutely calibrated ultraviolet （UV） spectrometer, UV skylight radiances and O3 slant column densities are measured by balloon-borne limb measurements in Xinjiang area, China. UV skylight radiances measured at the height of 31 km are compared with the results from Modtran in the wavelength range from 290 to 420 nm. O3 slant column densities are derived from radiance spectra in the Huggins bands （320 - 335 nm） using differential optical absorption spectroscopy method. And the parameter exhibits a good correlation with the same value simulated by radiative transfer model （Tracy）. The O3 profile simultaneously measured by an O3 sonde is used as input in Tracy calculations. The O3 sonde is launched on the same balloon.

A Method for Retrieving Vertical Ozone Profiles from Limb Scattered Measurements

A two-step method is employed in this study to retrieve vertical ozone profiles using scattered measure- ments from the limb of the atmosphere. The combination of the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy （DOAS） and the Multiplicative Algebraic Reconstruction Technique （MART） is proposed. First, the limb radiance, measured over a range of tangent heights, is processed using the DOAS technique to recover the effective column densities of atmospheric ozone. Second, these effective column densities along the lines of sight （LOSs） are inverted using the MART coupled with a forward model SCIATRAN （radiative transfer model for SCIAMACHY） to derive the ozone profiles. This method is applied to Optical Spectrograph and Infra Red Imager System （OSIRIS） radiance, using the wavelength windows 571–617 nm. Vertical ozone profiles between 10 and 48 km are derived with a vertical resolution of 1 km. The results illustrate a good agreement with the cloud-free coincident SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY （SCIAMACHY） ozone measurements, with deviations less than ± 10% （ ± 5% for altitudes from 17 to 47 km）. Furthermore, sensitivities of retrieved ozone to aerosol, cloud parameters and NO 2 concentration are also investigated.

Long-term observations of tropospheric NO_2, SO_2 and HCHO by MAX-DOAS in Yangtze River Delta area, China

Yangtze River Delta （YRD） area is one of the important economic zones in China. However, this area faces increasing environmental problems. In this study, we use ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy （MAX-DOAS） network in Eastern China to retrieve variations of NO2, SO2, and formaldehyde （HCHO） in the YRD area. Three cities of YRD （Hefei, Nanjing, and Shanghai） were selected for long-term observations. This paper presents technical performance and characteristics of instruments, their distribution in YRD, and results of vertical column densities （VCDs） and profiles of NO2, SO2, and HCHO. Average diurnal variations of tropospheric NO2 and SO2 in different seasons over the three stations yielded minimum values at noon or in the early afternoon, whereas tropospheric HCHO reached the maximum during midday hours. Slight reduction of the pollutants in weekends occurred in all the three sites. In general trace gas concentrations gradually reduced from Shanghai to Hefei. Tropospheric VCDs of NO2, SO2, and HCHO were compared with those from Ozone Monitoring Instrument （OMI） satellite observations, resulting in R2 of 0.606, 0.5432, and 0.5566, respectively. According to analysis of regional transports of pollutants, pollution process happened in YRO under the north wind with the pollution dissipating in the southeast wind. The feature is significant in exploring transport of tropospheric trace gas pollution in YRD, and provides basis for satellite and model validation.