Retrieval of CO2 Mixing Ratios from CLARS Measurements: Correcting Aerosol Induced Biases

Abstract:

A Fourier transform spectrometer at the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS) on the top of Mt Wilson, California, measures greenhouse gas concentrations in the Los Angeles basin using reflected sun light. Observations include those with large viewing zenith angles (up to 83.1), making the measurements very sensitive to aerosol scattering. A previous study by the authors shows the ratioing of CO2 and O2 slant column densities (SCDs) can largely cancel the effect of aerosol scattering, but biases still exist due to the wavelength dependence of aerosol scattering.
In this study, biases caused by different types of aerosols are analyzed. Preliminary results indicate that the information from CLARS-FTS spectra is not sufficient to constrain all the free parameters, including the aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA), aerosol optical depth, surface albedo, etc. In order to mitigate the influence of aerosol scattering, a few effective aerosol parameters are retrieved simultaneously with absorbing gas abundances. The corrected SCDs show reasonable variabilities from the morning to the afternoon in the presence of aerosols. The column-averaged dry air mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2) products are compared to measurements from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) at Caltech. By retrieving aerosol parameters in the CO2 and O2 absorption bands, biases in XCO2 caused by wavelength dependence of aerosol scattering can be considerably reduced.