| Volumes and Issues Contents of Issue 6 Special Issue |
www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/3/5343/2010/
doi:10.5194/amtd-3-5343-2010
© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
SCIAMACHY stratospheric aerosol extinction profile retrieval
1Science Systems and Applications Inc. Lanham, MD, USA
2NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
3Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA
4Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
5Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Abstract. The Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite Limp Profiler (OMPS/LP) algorithm is used to retrieve ozone and aerosol profiles using a series of 120 SCIAMACHY limb measurements collocated with SAGE II solar occultation events. The primary goal of the study is to ascertain the capability of the OMPS/LP retrieval algorithm to accurately retrieve the vertical distribution of stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficient so as to better account for aerosol effects in the ozone profiling retrieval process. Using simulated radiances, we show that the aerosol extinction coefficient can be retrieved from limb scatter measurements within 5% and a standard deviation better than 15%, which is more than sufficient to improve the OMPS/LP ozone products to be used as Environmental Data Records. We also illustrate the ability of SCIAMACHY limb measurements to retrieve stratospheric aerosol profiles with accuracy comparable to other instruments. The retrieved aerosol profiles agree with collocated SAGE II measurements on average to within 25%, with a standard deviation of 35%.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 2771 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (AMT) Special Issue
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Taha, G., Rault, D. F., Loughman, R. P., Bourassa, A. E., and von Savigny, C.: SCIAMACHY stratospheric aerosol extinction profile retrieval, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 3, 5343-5374, doi:10.5194/amtd-3-5343-2010, 2010. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
