Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 7 1 2007 10.5194/acpd-7-429-2007 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/429/2007/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/429/2007/acpd-7-429-2007.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/429/2007/acpd-7-429-2007.pdf 429 468 2007-01-12 SCIAMACHY tropospheric NO₂ over the Alpine region and importance of pixel surface pressure for the column retrieval D. Schaub K. F. Boersma J. Keller D. Folini D. Brunner dominik.brunner@empa.ch B. Buchmann H. Berresheim J. Staehelin Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Ueberlandstrasse 129, CH-8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland German National Meteorological Service, DWD/MOHp, 82383 Hohenpeissenberg, Germany Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland This study evaluates NO₂ vertical tropospheric column densities (VTCs) retrieved from measurements of the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) above Switzerland and the Alpine region. A clear relationship between a spatially and temporally highly resolved Swiss NO_x emission inventory and SCIAMACHY NO₂ columns under anticyclonic meteorological conditions supports the general ability of SCIAMACHY to detect sources of NO_x pollution in Switzerland. Summertime NO_x lifetime estimates derived from this relation agree reasonably with values from literature. A further evaluation of the SCIAMACHY data is based on the comparison with NO₂ VTCs retrieved from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME). The annual mean NO₂ VTCs calculated from both data sets clearly show the advantage of the improved SCIAMACHY pixel resolution for qualitatively estimating the NO_x pollution distribution in a small country such as Switzerland. However, a more quantitative comparison of seasonally averaged NO₂ VTCs gives evidence for SCIAMACHY NO₂ VTCs being systematically underestimated over the Swiss Plateau during winter. A possible explanation for this problem (not reported in earlier literature) is the use of inaccurate satellite pixel surface pressures derived from coarsely resolved global models in the retrieval. The marked topography in the Alpine region can lead to deviations of several hundred meters between the assumed and the real mean surface height over a pixel. A sensitivity study based on selected clear sky SCIAMACHY NO₂ VTCs over the Swiss Plateau and two fixed a priori NO₂ profile shapes indicates that inaccurate pixel surface pressures have a considerable effect of up to 40% on the retrieved NO₂ columns. For retrievals in the UV-visible spectral range with a decreasing sensitivity towards the earth's surface, this effect is of major importance when the NO₂ resides close to the ground, which occurs most pronounced during the winter season. Beirle, S., Platt, U., Wenig, M., and Wagner, T.: Weekly cycle of NO₂ by GOME measurements: a signature of anthropogenic sources, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 3, 2225–2232, 2003. Beirle, S., Platt, U., Wenig, M., and Wagner, T.: Highly resolved global distribution of tropospheric NO₂ using GOME narrow swath mode data, Atmos. Chem. 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