EGU2020-18189
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18189
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Validation of the S5P Formaldehyde L2 product using MAX-DOAS network observations

Isabelle De Smedt1, Gaia Pinardi1, Corinne Vigouroux1, Steven Compernolle1, Kai Uwe Eichman2, Bavo Langerock1, Christophe Lerot1, Nicolas Theys1, Jonas Vlietinck1, Huan Yu1, Fabian Romahn3, Pascal Hedelt3, Zhibin Cheng3, Jean-Christopher Lambert1, Diego Loyola3, Michel Van Roozendael1, and the NIDFORVAL HCHO team*
Isabelle De Smedt et al.
  • 1BIRA-IASB, UV/Vis group, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • 3Institut für Methodik der Fernerkundung (IMF), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
  • *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract

The Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) was launched on the 13th of October 2017, with on board the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). The formaldehyde (HCHO) L2 product is operational since the end of 2018. The prototype of the tropospheric HCHO retrieval algorithm is developed at BIRA-IASB and implemented at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the S5P operational processor (De Smedt et al., 2018).

In this work, we investigate the quality of the HCHO tropospheric column product and its validation within the MPC framework (Mission Performance Center) and the S5PVT NIDFORVAL project (S5P NItrogen Dioxide and FORmaldehyde VALidation). Within NIDFORVAL, the S5P HCHO product has been validated using the full FTIR and MAXDOAS dataset. Validation results have been assessed against reported product uncertainties taking into account the full comparison error budget, showing that the product quality reaches its requirements.

Here, we focus on satellite-satellite comparison based on the OMI QA4ECV HCHO product and on ground-based validation using MAX-DOAS and Pandora network observations. About 15 HCHO measuring stations are involved, providing data corresponding to a wide range of observation conditions at mid and low latitudes, and covering remote, sub-urban, and urban polluted sites. Comparison results show usually negative biases for large HCHO columns, while a positive offset is observed for the lowest columns. For the MAX-DOAS stations providing vertical profile retrievals, the impact of a priori profiles on the comparison is assessed. The dataset allows to discuss validation results as a function of emission source. Seasonal and diurnal variations are compared. Long term variation are also monitored using the OMI and MAX-DOAS QA4ECV dataset.

NIDFORVAL HCHO team:

Alkis Bais, Sebastian Donner, Theano Drosoglou, Michel Grutter, Jay R. Herman, Hitoshi Irie, Dimitris Karagkiozidis, Cheng Liu, Ankie Piters, Claudia Rivera, Julia Remmers, Thomas Wagner, François Hendrick, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, , R. Querel, Nader Abuhassan, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber

How to cite: De Smedt, I., Pinardi, G., Vigouroux, C., Compernolle, S., Eichman, K. U., Langerock, B., Lerot, C., Theys, N., Vlietinck, J., Yu, H., Romahn, F., Hedelt, P., Cheng, Z., Lambert, J.-C., Loyola, D., and Van Roozendael, M. and the NIDFORVAL HCHO team: Validation of the S5P Formaldehyde L2 product using MAX-DOAS network observations, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-18189, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18189, 2020.