Validation of ACE-FTS v2.2 methane profiles from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere

M. De Maziere, C. Vigouroux, P. F. Bernath, P. Baron, T. Blumenstock, C. Boone, C. Brogniez, V. Catoire, M. Coffey, P. Duchatelet, D. Griffith, J. Hannigan, Y. Kasai, I. Kramer, N. Jones, E. Mahieu, G. L. Manney, C. Piccolo, C. Randall, C. RobertC. Senten, K. Strong, J. Taylor, C. Tetard, K. A. Walker, S. Wood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The ACE-FTS (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment - Fourier Transform Spectrometer) solar occultation instrument that was launched onboard the Canadian SCISAT-1 satellite in August 2003 is measuring vertical profiles from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere for a large number of atmospheric constituents. Methane is one of the key species. The version v2.2 data of the ACE-FTS CH4 data have been compared to correlative satellite, balloon-borne and ground-based Fourier transform infrared remote sensing data to assess their quality. The comparison results indicate that the accuracy of the data is within 10% in the upper troposphere - lower stratosphere, and within 25% in the middle and higher stratosphere up to the lower mesosphere (<60 km). The observed differences are generally consistent with reported systematic uncertainties. ACE-FTS is also shown to reproduce the variability of methane in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2421-2435
Number of pages15
JournalAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Volume8
Issue number9
Publication statusPublished - 5 May 2008

Keywords

  • HALOGEN OCCULTATION EXPERIMENT
  • ATMOSPHERE RESEARCH SATELLITE
  • TRACE GAS OBSERVATIONS
  • GROUND-BASED FTIR
  • POLAR VORTEX
  • HIGH-RESOLUTION
  • NOVEMBER 1994
  • MIPAS
  • INSTRUMENT
  • RETRIEVAL

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