Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
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10.5194/acpd-7-13627-2007
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/13627/2007/
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/13627/2007/acpd-7-13627-2007.html
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/13627/2007/acpd-7-13627-2007.pdf
13627
13652
2007-09-18
Retrieval of global upper tropospheric and stratospheric formaldehyde (H<sub>2</sub>CO) distributions from high-resolution MIPAS-Envisat spectra
T. Steck
tilman.steck@imk.fzk.de
N. Glatthor
T. von Clarmann
H. Fischer
J. M. Flaud
B. Funke
U. Grabowski
M. Höpfner
S. Kellmann
A. Linden
A. Perrin
G. P. Stiller
Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systemes Atmospheriques (LISA), Paris, France
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Granada, Spain
The Fourier transform spectrometer MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer
for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) on Envisat measures infrared
emission of the Earth's atmosphere in a limb viewing mode.
High spectral resolution measurements of MIPAS are sensitive to formaldehyde
from the upper troposphere to the stratopause. Formaldehyde single profile
retrieval is formally possible, however with a large noise error (more than
60%), which is the dominant error source.
The number of degrees of freedom for single profile retrieval ranges from
2 to 4.5 depending on latitude and number of cloud-free tangent altitudes.
Calculation of zonal mean values for 30 days of data during 8 September 2003
and 1 December 2003 reduces the noise induced error by a factor of 20 or more.
In the upper tropical troposphere zonal mean values of about 70 parts per
trillion by volume (pptv) were found, which have been attributed to biomass
burning emissions. In the
stratosphere, formaldehyde values are determined by photochemical reactions.
In the upper tropical stratosphere, formaldehyde zonal mean maximum values
can reach 130 pptv. Diurnal variations in this region can be up to 50 pptv.
Comparisons with other satellite instruments show generally good agreement in
the region of upper troposphere and lower stratosphere as well as in the upper
stratosphere.
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