Glyoxal tropospheric column retrievals from TROPOMI - multi-satellite intercomparison and ground-based validation

Author(s):
Lerot, Christophe; Hendrick, Francois; Van Roozendael, Michel; Alvarado, Leonardo M. A.; Richter, Andreas; De Smedt, Isabelle; Theys, Nicolas; Vlietinck, Jonas; Yu, Huan; Van Gent, Jeroen; Stavrakou, Trissevgeni; Muller, Jean-Francois; Valks, Pieter; Loyola, Diego; Irie, Hitoshi; Kumar, Vinod; Wagner, Thomas; Schreier, Stefan F.; Sinha, Vinayak; Wang, Ting; Wang, Pucai; Retscher, Christian
Publication title: ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
2021
 | Volume: 14 | Issue: 12
2021
DOI: 10.5194/amt-14-7775-2021
Abstract:
We present the first global glyoxal (CHOCHO) tropospheric column product derived from the TROPO-spheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the S… We present the first global glyoxal (CHOCHO) tropospheric column product derived from the TROPO-spheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. Atmospheric glyoxal results from the oxidation of other non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and from direct emissions caused by combustion processes. Therefore, this product is a useful indicator of VOC emissions. It is generated with an improved version of the BIRA-IASB scientific retrieval algorithm relying on the differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) approach. Among the algorithmic updates, the DOAS fit now includes corrections to mitigate the impact of spectral misfits caused by scene brightness inhomogeneity and strong NO2 absorption. The product comes along with a full error characterization, which allows for providing random and systematic error estimates for every observation. Systematic errors are typically in the range of 1 x 10(14)-3 x 10(14) molec.cm(-2) (similar to 30 %-70 % in emission regimes) and originate mostly from a priori data uncertainties and spectral interferences with other absorbing species. The latter may be at the origin, at least partly, of an enhanced glyoxal signal over equatorial oceans, and further investigation is needed to mitigate them. Random errors are large (> 6 x 10(14) molec. cm(-2)) but can be reduced by averaging observations in space and/or time. Benefiting from a high signal-to-noise ratio and a large number of small-size observations, TROPOMI provides glyoxal tropospheric column fields with an unprecedented level of detail. Using the same retrieval algorithmic baseline, glyoxal column data sets are also generated from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on Aura and from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) on board Metop-A and Metop-B. Those four data sets are intercompared over large-scale regions worldwide and show a high level of consistency. The satellite glyoxal columns are also compared to glyoxal columns retrieved from ground-based Multi-AXis DOAS (MAX-DOAS) instruments at nine stations in Asia and Europe. In general, the satellite and MAX-DOAS instruments provide consistent glyoxal columns both in terms of absolute values and variability. Correlation coefficients between TROPOMI and MAX-DOAS glyoxal columns range between 0.61 and 0.87. The correlation is only poorer at one mid-latitude station, where satellite data appear to be biased low during wintertime. The mean absolute glyoxal columns from satellite and MAX-DOAS generally agree well for low/moderate columns with differences of less than 1 x 10(14) molec.cm(-2). A larger bias is identified at two sites where the MAX-DOAS columns are very large. Despite this systematic bias, the consistency of the satellite and MAX-DOAS glyoxal seasonal variability is high. more
AC-SAF Atmosphere Climate Data Records Validation

High-resolution (1km) all-sky net radiation over Europe enabled by the merging of land surface temperature retrievals from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites

Author(s):
Rains, D.; Trigo, I.; Dutra, E.; Ermida, S.; Ghent, D.; Hulsman, P.; Gómez-Dans, J.; Miralles, D.G.
Publication title: Earth System Science Data
2024
 | Volume: 16 | Issue: 1
2024
DOI: 10.5194/essd-16-567-2024
Abstract:
Surface net radiation (SNR) is a vital input for many land surface and hydrological models. However, most of the current remote sensing datasets of SN… Surface net radiation (SNR) is a vital input for many land surface and hydrological models. However, most of the current remote sensing datasets of SNR come mostly at coarse resolutions or have large gaps due to cloud cover that hinder their use as input in models. Here, we present a downscaled and continuous daily SNR product across Europe for 2018-2019. Long-wave outgoing radiation is computed from a merged land surface temperature (LST) product in combination with Meteosat Second Generation emissivity data. The merged LST product is based on all-sky LST retrievals from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) onboard the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite and clear-sky LST retrievals from the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) onboard the polar-orbiting Sentinel-3A satellite. This approach makes use of the medium spatial (approx. 5-7km) but high temporal (30min) resolution, gap-free data from MSG along with the low temporal (2-3d) but high spatial (1km) resolution of the Sentinel-3 LST retrievals. The resulting 1km and daily LST dataset is based on an hourly merging of both datasets through bias correction and Kalman filter assimilation. Short-wave outgoing radiation is computed from the incoming short-wave radiation from MSG and the downscaled albedo using 1km PROBA-V data. MSG incoming short-wave and long-wave radiation and the outgoing radiation components at 1km spatial resolution are used together to compute the final daily SNR dataset in a consistent manner. Validation results indicate an improvement of the mean squared error by ca. 7% with an increase in spatial detail compared to the original MSG product. The resulting pan-European SNR dataset, as well as the merged LST product, can be used for hydrological modelling and as input to models dedicated to estimating evaporation and surface turbulent heat fluxes and will be regularly updated in the future. The datasets can be downloaded from 10.5281/zenodo.8332222 and 10.5281/zenodo.8332128 . © 2024 Dominik Rains et al. more
Application Atmosphere Climate Data Records LSA-SAF

High-resolution electricity generation model demonstrates suitability of high-altitude floating solar power

Author(s):
Eyring, Nicholas; Kittner, Noah
Publication title: ISCIENCE
2022
 | Volume: 25 | Issue: 6
2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104394
Abstract:
This paper develops a meteorological site selection algorithm to quantify the electricity generation potential of floating solar design configurations… This paper develops a meteorological site selection algorithm to quantify the electricity generation potential of floating solar design configurations on alpine water bodies in Switzerland. Using European power market demand patterns, we estimate the technical and economic potential of 82 prospective high-altitude floating solar sites co-located with existing Swiss hydropower. We demonstrate that the amount of solar energy radiating from high-altitude Swiss water bodies could meet total national electricity demand while significantly reducing carbon emissions and addressing seasonal supply/demand deficits. We construct a global map overlaying sites on each continent where high-altitude floating solar could provide low-carbon, land-sparing electricity. Our results present a compelling motivation to develop alpine floating solar installations. However, significant innovations are still needed to couple floating solar with existing hydropower operations or low-cost energy storage. As the industry matures, high-altitude floating solar technology could become a high-value, low-carbon electricity source. more
Application Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records

High-resolution satellite products improve hydrological modeling in northern Italy

Author(s):
Alfieri, Lorenzo; Avanzi, Francesco; Delogu, Fabio; Gabellani, Simone; Bruno, Giulia; Campo, Lorenzo; Libertino, Andrea; Massari, Christian; Tarpanelli, Angelica; Rains, Dominik; Miralles, Diego G.; Quast, Raphael; Vreugdenhil, Mariette; Wu, Huan; Brocca, Luca
Publication title: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
2022
 | Volume: 26 | Issue: 14
2022
DOI: 10.5194/hess-26-3921-2022
Abstract:
Abstract. Satellite-based Earth observations (EO) are an accurate and reliable data source for atmospheric and environmental science. Their increasing… Abstract. Satellite-based Earth observations (EO) are an accurate and reliable data source for atmospheric and environmental science. Their increasing spatial and temporal resolutions, as well as the seamless availability over ungauged regions, make them appealing for hydrological modeling. This work shows recent advances in the use of high-resolution satellite-based EO data in hydrological modeling. In a set of six experiments, the distributed hydrological model Continuum is set up for the Po River basin (Italy) and forced, in turn, by satellite precipitation and evaporation, while satellite-derived soil moisture (SM) and snow depths are ingested into the model structure through a data-assimilation scheme. Further, satellite-based estimates of precipitation, evaporation, and river discharge are used for hydrological model calibration, and results are compared with those based on ground observations. Despite the high density of conventional ground measurements and the strong human influence in the focus region, all satellite products show strong potential for operational hydrological applications, with skillful estimates of river discharge throughout the model domain. Satellite-based evaporation and snow depths marginally improve (by 2 % and 4 %) the mean Kling–Gupta efficiency (KGE) at 27 river gauges, compared to a baseline simulation (KGEmean= 0.51) forced by high-quality conventional data. Precipitation has the largest impact on the model output, though the satellite data on average shows poorer skills compared to conventional data. Interestingly, a model calibration heavily relying on satellite data, as opposed to conventional data, provides a skillful reconstruction of river discharges, paving the way to fully satellite-driven hydrological applications. more
Atmosphere Climate Data Records H-SAF Land Validation

HOAPS and ERA-Interim precipitation over the sea: validation against shipboard in situ measurements

Author(s):
Bumke, Karl; König-Langlo, Gert; Kinzel, Julian; Schröder, Marc
Publication title: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
2016
 | Volume: 9 | Issue: 5
2016
DOI: 10.5194/amt-9-2409-2016
Abstract:
Abstract. The satellite-derived HOAPS (Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range… Abstract. The satellite-derived HOAPS (Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) ERA-Interim reanalysis data sets have been validated against in situ precipitation measurements from ship rain gauges and optical disdrometers over the open ocean by applying a statistical analysis for binary estimates. For this purpose collocated pairs of data were merged within a certain temporal and spatial threshold into single events, according to the satellites' overpass, the observation and the ERA-Interim times. HOAPS detects the frequency of precipitation well, while ERA-Interim strongly overestimates it, especially in the tropics and subtropics. Although precipitation rates are difficult to compare because along-track point measurements are collocated with areal estimates and the number of available data are limited, we find that HOAPS underestimates precipitation rates, while ERA-Interim's Atlantic-wide average precipitation rate is close to measurements. However, when regionally averaged over latitudinal belts, deviations between the observed mean precipitation rates and ERA-Interim exist. The most obvious ERA-Interim feature is an overestimation of precipitation in the area of the intertropical convergence zone and the southern subtropics over the Atlantic Ocean. For a limited number of snow measurements by optical disdrometers, it can be concluded that both HOAPS and ERA-Interim are suitable for detecting the occurrence of solid precipitation. more
Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records Validation

HOAPS precipitation validation with ship-borne rain gauge measurements over the Baltic Sea

Author(s):
Bumke, Karl; Fennig, Karsten; Strehz, Alexander; Mecking, Rebekka; Schröder, Marc
Publication title: Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography
2012
 | Volume: 64 | Issue: 1
2012
DOI: 10.3402/tellusa.v64i0.18486
Abstract:
Global ocean precipitation is an important part of the water cycle in the climate system. A number of efforts have been undertaken to acquire reliable… Global ocean precipitation is an important part of the water cycle in the climate system. A number of efforts have been undertaken to acquire reliable estimates of precipitation over the oceans based on remote sensing and reanalysis modelling. However, validation of these data is still a challenging task, mainly due to a lack of suitable in situ measurements of precipitation over the oceans. In this study, validation of the satellite-based Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and fluxes from Satellite data (HOAPS) climatology was conducted with in situ measurements by ship rain gauges over the Baltic Sea from 1995 to 1997. The ship rain gauge data are point-to-area collocated against the HOAPS data. By choosing suitable collocation parameters, a detection rate of up to about 70% is achieved. Investigation of the influence of the synoptic situation on the detectability shows that HOAPS performs better for stratiform than for convective precipitation. The number of collocated data is not sufficient to validate precipitation rates. Thus, precipitation rates were analysed by applying an interpolation scheme based on the Kriging method to both data sets. It was found that HOAPS underestimates precipitation by about 10%, taking into account that precipitation rates below 0.3 mm h−1 cannot be detected from satellite information. more
Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records Validation

Homogenization of incoming solar radiation measurements over Poland with satellite and climate reanalysis data

Author(s):
Kulesza, K.; Bojanowski, J.S.
Publication title: Solar Energy
2021
 | Volume: 225
2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2021.07.031
Abstract:
Well-maintained and regularly calibrated measuring instruments provide the most accurate solar radiation data. This extremely valuable research materi… Well-maintained and regularly calibrated measuring instruments provide the most accurate solar radiation data. This extremely valuable research material makes it possible, among others, to analyse variability in solar radiation over the long term and its dependence on other atmospheric state elements such as cloud cover and atmospheric aerosol concentration. Unfortunately, ground-based measurements of solar radiation are often subject to various errors which are very difficult to detect. This is why quality control procedures and homogenisation of data are essential and should be performed prior to further analyses. This paper presents a method for quality control and homogenization of solar radiation data, which builds on the bias-based quality control (BQC) method (Urraca et al., 2017), and is tailored specially for detecting single erroneous daily values, and very long periods of small errors. The method was tested for 16 ground-based stations located in Poland for the period 1991–2015. In comparison with the number of errors detected by the BQC method, the number of detected errors increased significantly: 130 to 2890 more erroneous days were detected at each station. Consequently, the number of inhomogeneous data sets was reduced from 8 to 3 stations. The values on the days considered as erroneous were replaced with debiased values originating from the Surface Solar Radiation Data Set – Heliosat, Edition 2 (SARAH-2). The presented methodology can be also of use in any other places, especially those with many single erroneous days and no metadata publicly available. © 2021 International Solar Energy Society more
Application Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records

Historical and projected climatic trends in KwaZulu-Natal: 1950–2100

Author(s):
Jury, M.R.
Publication title: Water SA
2022
 | Volume: 48 | Issue: 4
2022
DOI: 10.17159/wsa/2022.v48.i4.3991
Abstract:
The climate of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is evaluated for historical and projected trends in the period 1950–2100. This region lies next to the war… The climate of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is evaluated for historical and projected trends in the period 1950–2100. This region lies next to the warm Indian Ocean and experiences an alternating airflow imposed by subtropical easterly and mid-latitude westerly wind belts. Multi-year wet spells have diminished since 2001 and potential evaporation deficits have spread from the Tugela Valley. Although coastal vegetation is greening and sea temperatures in the Agulhas Current are warming (>0.02·yr−1), there are fewer rain days and less cloud cover. Tropical winds across southern Africa have turned toward Madagascar, re-directing moisture and convection away from KwaZulu-Natal in recent decades. Long-range coupled model projections of monthly rainfall display weak trends over the 21st century (−0.01 mm·day−1·yr −1) which are overshadowed by multi-year fluctuations (r2 = 0.04). In contrast, drying trends in potential evaporation are significant (r2 = 0.41). Forecasts of seasonal dry spells could mitigate climate change impacts in south-eastern Africa. © The Author(s) Published under a Creati. more
Application Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records

Hourly global horizontal irradiance over West Africa: A case study of one-year satellite- and reanalysis-derived estimates vs. in situ measurements

Author(s):
Sawadogo, Windmanagda; Bliefernicht, Jan; Fersch, Benjamin; Salack, Seyni; Guug, Samuel; Diallo, Belko; Ogunjobi, Kehinde. O.; Nakoulma, Guillaume; Tanu, Michael; Meilinger, Stefanie; Kunstmann, Harald
Publication title: Renewable Energy
2023
 | Volume: 216
2023
DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119066
Abstract:
Estimates of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) from reanalysis and satellite-based data are the most important information for the design and monitor… Estimates of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) from reanalysis and satellite-based data are the most important information for the design and monitoring of PV systems in Africa, but their quality is unknown due to the lack of in situ measurements. In this study, we evaluate the performance of hourly GHI from state-of-the-art reanalysis and satellite-based products (ERA5, MERRA-2, CAMS, and SARAH-2) with 37 quality-controlled in situ measurements from novel meteorological networks established in Burkina Faso and Ghana under different weather conditions for the year 2020. The effects of clouds and aerosols are also considered in the analysis by using common performance measures for the main quality attributes and a new overall performance value for the joint assessment. The results show that satellite data performs better than reanalysis data under different atmospheric conditions. Nevertheless, both data sources exhibit significant bias of more than 150 W/m2 in terms of RMSE under cloudy skies compared to clear skies. The new measure of overall performance clearly shows that the hourly GHI derived from CAMS and SARAH-2 could serve as viable alternative data for assessing solar energy in the different climatic zones of West Africa. more
Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records Validation

How accurate are satellite-derived surface solar radiation products over tropical oceans?

Author(s):
Tang, W.; Yang, K.; Qin, J.; Li, J.; Ye, J.
Publication title: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
2021
 | Volume: 38 | Issue: 2
2021
DOI: 10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0099.1
Abstract:
Surface solar radiation (SSR) over the ocean is essential for studies of ocean–atmosphere interactions and marine ecology, and satellite remote sensin… Surface solar radiation (SSR) over the ocean is essential for studies of ocean–atmosphere interactions and marine ecology, and satellite remote sensing is a major way to obtain the SSR over ocean. A new high-resolution (10 km; 3 h) SSR product has recently been developed, mainly based on the newly released cloud product of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project H series (ISCCP-HXG), and is available for the period from July 1983 to December 2018. In this study, we compared this SSR product with in situ observations from 70 buoy sites in the Global Tropical Moored Buoy Array (GTMBA) and also compared it with another well-known satellite-derived SSR product from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES; edition 4.1), which has a spatial resolution of approximately 100 km. The results show that the ISCCP-HXG SSR product is generally more accurate than the CERES SSR product for both ocean and land surfaces. We also found that the accuracy of both satellite-derived SSR products (ISCCP-HXG and CRERS) was higher over ocean than over land and that the accuracy of ISCCP-HXG SSR improves greatly when the spatial resolution of the product is coarsened to ≥ 30 km. © 2021 American Meteorological Society. more
Application Atmosphere CM-SAF Climate Data Records
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