| 1. |
- Baron, P., et al.
(author)
-
Potential for the measurement of mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) wind, temperature, density and geomagnetic field with Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder 2 (SMILES-2)
- 2020
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 13:1, s. 219-237
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder 2 (SMILES-2) is a satellite mission proposed in Japan to probe the middle and upper atmosphere (20-160 km). The main instrument is composed of 4K cooled radiometers operating near 0.7 and 2 THz. It could measure the diurnal changes of the horizontal wind above 30 km, temperature above 20 km, ground-state atomic oxygen above 90 km and atmospheric density near the mesopause, as well as abundance of about 15 chemical species. In this study we have conducted simulations to assess the wind, temperature and density retrieval performance in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (60- 110 km) using the radiometer at 760 GHz. It contains lines of water vapor (H2O), molecular oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO) that are the strongest signals measured with SMILES-2 at these altitudes. The Zeeman effect on the O2 line due to the geomagnetic field (B) is considered; otherwise, the retrieval errors would be underestimated by a factor of 2 above 90 km. The optimal configuration for the radiometer's polarization is found to be vertical linear. Considering a retrieval vertical resolution of 2.5 km, the line-of-sight wind is retrieved with a precision of 2-5ms-1 up to 90 km and 30ms-1 at 110 km. Temperature and atmospheric density are retrieved with a precision better than 5K and 7% up to 90 km (30K and 20% at 110 km). Errors induced by uncertainties on the vector B are mitigated by retrieving it. The retrieval of B is described as a side-product of the mission. At high latitudes, precisions of 30-100 nT on the vertical component and 100-300 nT on the horizontal one could be obtained at 85 and 105 km (vertical resolution of 20 km). SMILES-2 could therefore provide the first measurements of B close to the electrojets' altitude, and the precision is enough to measure variations induced by solar storms in the auroral regions.
|
|
| 2. |
- Grieco, Francesco, 1992, et al.
(author)
-
Improvement of Odin/SMR water vapour and temperature measurements and validation of the obtained data sets
- 2021
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 14:8, s. 5823-5857
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Its long photochemical lifetime makes H2O a good tracer for mesospheric dynamics. Temperature observations are also critical to study middle atmospheric dynamics. In this study, we present the reprocessing of 18 years of mesospheric H2O and temperature measurements from the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) aboard the Odin satellite, resulting in a part of the SMR version 3.0 level 2 data set. The previous version of the data set showed poor accordance with measurements from other instruments, which suggested that the retrieved concentrations and temperature were subject to instrumental artefacts. Different hypotheses have been explored, and the idea of an underestimation of the singlesideband leakage turned out to be the most reasonable one. The value of the lowest transmission achievable has therefore been raised to account for greater sideband leakage, and new retrievals have been performed with the new settings. The retrieved profiles extend between 40-100 km altitude and cover the whole globe to reach 85° latitudes. A validation study has been carried out, revealing an overall better accordance with the compared instruments. In particular, relative differences in H2O mixing ratio are always in the ±20% range between 40 and 70 km and diverge at higher altitudes, while temperature absolute differences are within ±5K between 40-80 km and also diverge at higher altitudes.
|
|
| 3. |
- Grieco, Francesco, 1992, et al.
(author)
-
Long-term mesospheric record of EPP-IE NO measured by Odin/SMR
- 2023
-
In: Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1364-6826. ; 242
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Due to the long lifetime of nitric oxide (NO) in darkness conditions, during polar winter, the NO produced by energetic particle precipitation (EPP) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) can descend, via the middle atmospheric residual circulation, to the lower mesosphere and stratosphere, where it is involved in catalytic destruction of ozone (O3). This process is known as energetic particle precipitation indirect effect (EPP-IE). There are still significant uncertainties on the estimated amount of EPP-IE NO. To improve such estimations, we measure the total winter flux of EPP-IE NO descending through three isentropic levels in the mesosphere, that is 2600 K, 3300 K and 4000 K, based on 15 years of NO nighttime observations from the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) on board Odin satellite. At the moment, Odin/SMR is the only instrument ensuring a global coverage of mesospheric NO observations within a few days and this is the first time EPP-IE NO has been quantified using its NO data set. Moreover, such an estimate had never been calculated for the most recent winters which are included in this study. In our method we calculate the median nighttime NO inside the polar vortex during the month prior to the descent of NO-rich air; this value is assumed as a background, produced by N2O oxidation, to be subtracted from the daily median nighttime concentrations inside the vortex; the result of this subtraction is then multiplied by the area of the vortex and the descent rate to obtain the flux; finally these daily quantities and integrated to calculate the total NO flux for each winter. We thus calculated the total EPP-IE NO flux through the mentioned levels for Northern Hemisphere (NH) winters between 2006–07 and 2020–21 and for Southern Hemisphere (SH) winters between 2007 and 2012. The total winter EPP-IE NO fluxes presented in this study are consistent with the quantities presented in similar studies. NH winters 2008–09, 2012–13 and 2018–19 are the ones presenting the highest NO fluxes at all levels. They are winters characterised by sudden stratospheric warmings followed by elevated stratopause (SSW-ES) events. The measured fluxes vary between 490 and 1000 Mmol at 4000 K, 310 and 720 Mmol at 3300 K, 270 and 510 Mmol at 2600 K. All other NH and SH winters are characterised by sensibly lower values than SSW-ES winters. The fluxes from these more dynamically quiet winters vary from winter to winter following a trend similar to the one of geomagnetic activity, as indicated by the variations in Ap index. These results indicate that the variability in the total EPP-IE NO fluxes is dominated by dynamics during the SSW-ES winters, whereas during the remaining winters it is geomagnetic activity that plays a major role.
|
|
| 4. |
- Grieco, Francesco, 1992, et al.
(author)
-
Recovery and validation of Odin/SMR long-term measurements of mesospheric carbon monoxide
- 2020
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 13:9, s. 5013-5031
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) on board the Odin satellite performs limb sounding measurements of the middle atmosphere to detect molecular emission from different species. Carbon monoxide (CO) is an important tracer of atmospheric dynamics at these altitudes, due to its long photochemical lifetime and high vertical concentration gradient. In this study, we have successfully recovered over 18 years of SMR observations, providing the only dataset to date being so extended in time and stretching out to the polar regions, with regards to satellite-measured mesospheric CO. This new dataset is part of the Odin/SMR version 3.0 level 2 data. Much of the level 1 dataset - except the October 2003 to October 2004 period - was affected by a malfunctioning of the phase-lock loop (PLL) in the front end used for CO observations. Because of this technical issue, the CO line could be shifted away from its normal frequency location, causing the retrieval to fail or leading to an incorrect estimation of the CO concentration. An algorithm was developed to locate the CO line and shift it to its correct location. Nevertheless, another artefact causing an underestimation of the concentration, i.e. a line broadening, stemmed from the PLL malfunctioning. This was accounted for by using a broader response function. The application of these corrections resulted in the recovery of a large amount of data that was previously being flagged as problematic and therefore not processed. A validation study has been carried out, showing how SMR CO volume mixing ratios are in general in good accordance with the other instruments considered in the study. Overall, the agreement is very good between 60 and 80 km altitude, with relative differences close to zero. A positive bias at low altitudes (50-60 km) up to +20% and a negative bias up to -20% at high altitudes (80-100 km) were found with respect to the comparison instruments.
|
|
| 5. |
- Gumbel, Jörg, et al.
(author)
-
The MATS satellite mission - gravity wave studies by Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy
- 2020
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 20:1, s. 431-455
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Global three-dimensional data are a key to understanding gravity waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) is a new Swedish satellite mission that addresses this need. It applies space-borne limb imaging in combination with tomographic and spectroscopic analysis to obtain gravity wave data on relevant spatial scales. Primary measurement targets are O-2 atmospheric band dayglow and nightglow in the near infrared, and sunlight scattered from noctilucent clouds in the ultraviolet. While tomography provides horizontally and vertically resolved data, spectroscopy allows analysis in terms of mesospheric temperature, composition, and cloud properties. Based on these dynamical tracers, MATS will produce a climatology on wave spectra during a 2-year mission. Major scientific objectives include a characterization of gravity waves and their interaction with larger-scale waves and mean flow in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, as well as their relationship to dynamical conditions in the lower and upper atmosphere. MATS is currently being prepared to be ready for a launch in 2020. This paper provides an overview of scientific goals, measurement concepts, instruments, and analysis ideas.
|
|
| 6. |
- Hegglin, Michaela I., et al.
(author)
-
Overview and update of the SPARC Data Initiative: comparison of stratospheric composition measurements from satellite limb sounders
- 2021
-
In: Earth System Science Data. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1866-3516 .- 1866-3508. ; 13:5, s. 1855-1903
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Stratosphere-troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) Data Initiative (SPARC, 2017) performed the first comprehensive assessment of currently available stratospheric composition measurements obtained from an international suite of space-based limb sounders. The initiative's main objectives were (1) to assess the state of data availability, (2) to compile time series of vertically resolved, zonal monthly mean trace gas and aerosol fields, and (3) to perform a detailed intercomparison of these time series, summarizing useful information and highlighting differences among datasets. The datasets extend over the region from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere (300-0.1 hPa) and are provided on a common latitude-pressure grid. They cover 26 different atmospheric constituents including the stratospheric trace gases of primary interest, ozone (O-3) and water vapor (H2O), major long-lived trace gases (SF6, N2O, HF, CCl3F, CCl2F2, NO y), trace gases with intermediate lifetimes (HCl, CH4, CO, HNO3), and shorter-lived trace gases important to stratospheric chemistry including nitrogen-containing species (NO, NO2, NOx, N2O5, HNO4), halogens (BrO, ClO, ClONO2, HOCl), and other minor species (OH, HO2, CH2O, CH3CN), and aerosol. This overview of the SPARC Data Initiative introduces the updated versions of the SPARC Data Initiative time series for the extended time period 1979-2018 and provides information on the satellite instruments included in the assessment: LIMS, SAGE I/II/III, HALOE, UARS-MLS, POAM II/III, OSIRIS, SMR, MIPAS, GOMOS, SCIAMACHY, ACE-FTS, ACEMAESTRO, Aura-MLS, HIRDLS, SMILES, and OMPS-LP. It describes the Data Initiative's top-down climatological validation approach to compare stratospheric composition measurements based on zonal monthly mean fields, which provides upper bounds to relative inter-instrument biases and an assessment of how well the instruments are able to capture geophysical features of the stratosphere. An update to previously published evaluations of O-3 and H2O monthly mean time series is provided. In addition, example trace gas evaluations of methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), a set of nitrogen species (NO, NO2, and HNO3), the reactive nitrogen family (NOy), and hydroperoxyl (HO2) are presented. The results highlight the quality, strengths and weaknesses, and representativeness of the different datasets. As a summary, the current state of our knowledge of stratospheric composition and variability is provided based on the overall consistency between the datasets. As such, the SPARC Data Initiative datasets and evaluations can serve as an atlas or reference of stratospheric composition and variability during the "golden age" of atmospheric limb sounding. The updated SPARC Data Initiative zonal monthly mean time series for each instrument are publicly available and accessible via the Zenodo data archive (Hegglin et al., 2020).
|
|
| 7. |
- Kiefer, M., et al.
(author)
-
The SPARC water vapour assessment II: biases and drifts of water vapour satellite data records with respect to frost point hygrometer records
- 2023
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 16:19, s. 4589-4642
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Satellite data records of stratospheric water vapour have been compared to balloon-borne frost point hygrometer (FP) profiles that are coincident in space and time. The satellite data records of 15 different instruments cover water vapour data available from January 2000 through December 2016. The hygrometer data are from 27 stations all over the world in the same period. For the comparison, real or constructed averaging kernels have been applied to the hygrometer profiles to adjust them to the measurement characteristics of the satellite instruments. For bias evaluation, we have compared satellite profiles averaged over the available temporal coverage to the means of coincident FP profiles for individual stations. For drift determinations, we analysed time series of relative differences between spatiotemporally coincident satellite and hygrometer profiles at individual stations. In a synopsis we have also calculated the mean biases and drifts (and their respective uncertainties) for each satellite record over all applicable hygrometer stations in three altitude ranges (10-30 hPa, 30-100 hPa, and 100 hPa to tropopause). Most of the satellite data have biases <10 % and average drifts <1 % yr-1 in at least one of the respective altitude ranges. Virtually all biases are significant in the sense that their uncertainty range in terms of twice the standard error of the mean does not include zero. Statistically significant drifts (95 % confidence) are detected for 35 % of the ≈ 1200 time series of relative differences between satellites and hygrometers.
|
|
| 8. |
- Li, Anqi, 1990, et al.
(author)
-
11-year solar cycle influence on OH (3-1) nightglow observed by OSIRIS
- 2022
-
In: Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1364-6826. ; 229
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the mesosphere, the vibrationally excited hydroxyl layer is sensitive to changes in incoming solar flux. An enhanced photodissociation of molecular oxygen will lead to more atomic oxygen production, thus we expect the OH layer emission rate to be positively with the Lyman-α flux and the emission height to be negatively correlated. The Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) has recorded the Meinel band centred at 1.53 μm from 2001 to 2015. In this study, we show how the 11-year solar cycle signature manifests itself in this data set, in terms of OH zenith emission rate and emission height. As expected, the emission height is negatively correlated with the Lyman-α flux at all latitudes. The zenith emission rate is positively correlated with the Lyman-α flux at most latitudes except near the equator. By the means of a time dependent photochemical model, we show that the changing local time sampling of the Odin satellite was the cause of the observed distortion of the solar cycle signature near the equator.
|
|
| 9. |
- Li, Anqi, 1990, et al.
(author)
-
Retrieval of daytime mesospheric ozone using OSIRIS observations of O2 (a1Δg) emission
- 2020
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 13:11, s. 6215-6236
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Improving knowledge of the ozone global distributions in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) is a crucial step in understanding the behaviour of the middle atmosphere. However, the concentration of ozone under sunlit conditions in the MLT is often so low that its measurement requires instruments with very high sensitivity. Fortunately, the bright oxygen airglow can serve as a proxy to retrieve the daytime ozone density indirectly, due to the strong connection to ozone photolysis in the Hartley band. The OSIRIS IR imager (hereafter, IRI), one of the instruments on the Odin satellite, routinely measures the oxygen infrared atmospheric band (IRA band) at 1.27 μm. In this paper, we will primarily focus on the detailed description of the steps done for retrieving the calibrated IRA band limb radiance (with <10 % random error), the volume emission rate of O2 ( a 1i"g) (with <25 % random error) and finally the ozone number density (with <20 % random error). This retrieval technique is applied to a 1-year sample from the IRI dataset. The resulting product is a new ozone dataset with very tight along-track sampling distance (<20 km). The feasibility of the retrieval technique is demonstrated by a comparison of coincident ozone measurements from other instruments aboard the same spacecraft, as well as zonal mean and monthly average comparisons between Odin-OSIRIS (both spectrograph and IRI), Odin-SMR and Envisat-MIPAS. We find that IRI appears to have a positive bias of up to 25 % below 75 km, and up to 50 % in some regions above. We attribute these differences to uncertainty in the IRI calibration as well as uncertainties in the photochemical constants. However, the IRI ozone dataset is consistent with the compared dataset in terms of the overall atmospheric distribution of ozone between 50 and 100 km. If the origin of the bias can be identified before processing the entire dataset, this will be corrected and noted in the dataset description. The retrieval technique described in this paper can be further applied to all the measurements made throughout the 19 year mission, leading to a new, long-term high-resolution ozone dataset in the middle atmosphere.
|
|
| 10. |
- Li, Anqi, 1990, et al.
(author)
-
The OH (3-1) nightglow volume emission rate retrieved from OSIRIS measurements: 2001 to 2015
- 2021
-
In: Earth System Science Data. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1866-3516 .- 1866-3508. ; 13:11, s. 5115-5126
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The OH airglow has been used to investigate the chemistry and dynamics of the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere (MLT) for a long time. The infrared imager (IRI) aboard the Odin satellite has been recording the night-time 1.53 mu m OH (3-1) emission for more than 15 years (2001-2015), and we have recently processed the complete data set. The newly derived data products contain the volume emission rate profiles and the Gaussian-approximated layer height, thickness, peak intensity and zenith intensity, and their corresponding error estimates. In this study, we describe the retrieval steps for these data products. We also provide data screening recommendations. The monthly zonal averages depict the well-known annual oscillation and semi-annual oscillation signatures, which demonstrate the fidelity of the data set (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4746506, Li et al., 2021). The uniqueness of this Odin IRI OH long-term data set makes it valuable for studying various topics, for instance, the sudden stratospheric warming events in the polar regions and solar cycle influences on the MLT.
|
|
