Envisat MIPAS measurements of CFC-11 : retrieval, validation, and climatology

  • From July 2002 to March 2004 the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) aboard the European Space Agency´s Environmental Satellite (Envisat) measured nearly continuously mid infrared limb radiance spectra. These measurements are utilised to retrieve the global distribution of the chlorofluorocarbon CFC-11 by applying a new fast forward model for Envisat MIPAS and an accompanying optimal estimation retrieval processor. A detailed analysis shows that the total retrieval errors of the individual CFC-11 volume mixing ratios are typically below 10% in the altitude range 10 to 25 km and that the systematic components dominate. Contribution of a priori information to the retrieval results are less than 5 to 10% and the vertical resolution of the observations is about 3 to 4 km in the same vertical range. The data are successfully validated by comparison with several other space experiments, an air-borne in-situ instrument, measurements from ground-based networks, and independent Envisat MIPAS analyses. The retrieval results from 425 000 Envisat MIPAS limb scans are compiled to provide a new climatological data set of CFC-11. The climatology shows significantly lower CFC-11 abundances in the lower stratosphere compared with the Reference Atmospheres for MIPAS (RAMstan V3.1) climatology. Depending on the atmospheric conditions the differences between the climatologies are up to 30 to 110 ppt (45 to 150%) at 19 to 27 km altitude. Additionally, time series of CFC-11 mean abundance and variability for five latitudinal bands are presented. The observed CFC-11 distributions can be explained by the residual mean circulation and large-scale eddy-transports in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The new CFC-11 data set is well suited for further scientific studies.

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Author:Lars Hoffmann, Martin Kaufmann, Reinhold SpangORCiD, Rolf MüllerORCiD, John J. Remedios, David P. Moore, C.-Michael Volk, Thomas von ClarmannORCiDGND, Martin RieseORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-58039
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-3671-2008
ISSN:1680-7324
Parent Title (English):Atmospheric chemistry and physics
Publisher:EGU
Place of publication:Katlenburg-Lindau
Contributor(s):R. MacKenzie
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2008
Date of first Publication:2008/07/10
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2008/10/06
Volume:8
Issue:13
Page Number:18
First Page:3671
Last Page:3688
Note:
© Author(s) 2008. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Source:Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8, 3671-3688, 2008 ; www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/3671/2008/
HeBIS-PPN:206092407
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0