Articles | Volume 12, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-3393-2012
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-3393-2012
Research article
 | 
10 Apr 2012
Research article |  | 10 Apr 2012

Influence of aerosols and thin cirrus clouds on the GOSAT-observed CO2: a case study over Tsukuba

O. Uchino, N. Kikuchi, T. Sakai, I. Morino, Y. Yoshida, T. Nagai, A. Shimizu, T. Shibata, A. Yamazaki, A. Uchiyama, N. Kikuchi, S. Oshchepkov, A. Bril, and T. Yokota

Abstract. Lidar observations of vertical profiles of aerosols and thin cirrus clouds were made at Tsukuba (36.05° N, 140.12° E), Japan, to investigate the influence of aerosols and thin cirrus clouds on the column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of carbon dioxide (XCO2) retrieved from observation data of the Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon Observation Fourier Transform Spectrometer, measured in the Short-Wavelength InfraRed band (TANSO-FTS SWIR), onboard the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). The lidar system measured the backscattering ratio, depolarization ratio, and/or the wavelength exponent of atmospheric particles. The lidar observations and ground-based high-resolution FTS measurements at the Tsukuba Total Carbon Column Observing Network (Tsukuba TCCON) site were recorded simultaneously during passages of GOSAT over Tsukuba.

GOSAT SWIR XCO2 data (Version 01.xx) released in August 2010 were compared with the lidar and Tsukuba TCCON data. High-altitude aerosols and thin cirrus clouds had a large impact on the GOSAT SWIR XCO2 results. By taking into account the observed aerosol/cirrus vertical profiles and using a more adequate solar irradiance database in the GOSAT SWIR retrieval, the difference between the GOSAT SWIR XCO2 data and the Tsukuba TCCON data was reduced. The 3-band retrieval approach where the aerosol and cirrus profiles were retrieved gave us the best results and the retrieved XCO2 data followed the seasonal cycle of ~8 ppm observed at Tsukuba TCCON site.

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