Intimately tracking NO2 pollution over the New York City - Long Island Sound land-water continuum: An integration of shipboard, airborne, satellite observations, and models

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution remains a serious global problem, particularly near highly populated urbanized coasts that face increasing challenges with climate change. Yet, the combined impact of urban emissions, pollution transport, and complex meteorology on the spatiotemporal dynamics of NO2 along heterogeneous urban coastlines remains poorly characterized. Here, we integrated measurements from different platforms - boats, ground-based networks, aircraft, and satellites - to characterize total column NO2 (TCNO2) dynamics across the land-water continuum in the New York metropolitan area, the most populous area in the United States that often experiences the highest national NO2 levels. Measurements were conducted during the 2018 Long Island Sound Tropospheric Ozone Study (LISTOS), with a main goal to extend surface measurements beyond the coastline - where ground-based air-quality monitoring networks abruptly stop - and over the aquatic environment where peaks in air pollution often occur. Satellite TCNO2 from TROPOMI correlated strongly with Pandora surface measurements (r = 0.87, N = 100) both over land and water. Yet, TROPOMI overall underestimated TCNO2 (MPD = -12%) and missed peaks in NO2 pollution caused by rush hour emissions or pollution accumulation during sea breezes. Aircraft retrievals were in excellent agreement with Pandora (r = 0.95, MPD = -0.3%, N = 108). Stronger agreement was found between TROPOMI, aircraft, and Pandora over land, while over water satellite, and to a lesser extent aircraft, retrievals underestimated TCNO2 particularly in the highly dynamic New York Harbor environment. Combined with model simulations, our shipborne measurements uniquely captured rapid transitions and fine-scale features in NO2 behavior across the New York City - Long Island Sound land-water continuum, driven by the complex interplay of human activity, chemistry, and local scale meteorology. These novel datasets provide critical information for improving satellite retrievals, enhancing air quality models, and informing management decisions, with important implications for the health of diverse communities and vulnerable ecosystems along this complex urban coastline.

High urban NOx triggers a substantial chemical downward flux of ozone

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) play a central role in catalyzing tropospheric ozone formation. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has recently reemerged as a key target for air pollution control measures, and observational evidence points toward a limited understanding of ozone in high-NOx environments. A complete understanding of the mechanisms controlling the rapid atmospheric cycling between ozone (O3)-nitric oxide (NO)-NO2 in high-NOx regimes at the surface is therefore paramount but remains challenging because of competing dynamical and chemical effects. Here, we present long-term eddy covariance measurements of O3, NO, and NO2, over an urban area, that allow disentangling important physical and chemical processes. When generalized, our findings suggest that the depositional O3 flux near the surface in urban environments is negligible compared to the flux caused by chemical conversion of O3. This leads to an underestimation of the Leighton ratio and is a key process for modulating urban NO2 mixing ratios. As a consequence, primary NO2 emissions have been significantly overestimated.

Effect of Polyoxymethylene (POM-H Delrin) offgassing within Pandora head sensor on direct sun and multi-axis formaldehyde column measurements in 2016 - 2019

Analysis of formaldehyde measurements by the Pandora spectrometer systems between 2016 and 2019 suggested that there was a temperature dependent process inside Pandora head sensor that emitted formaldehyde. Some parts in the head sensor were manufactured from thermal plastic polyoxymethylene homopolimer (E.I. Du Pont de Nemour & Co., USA: POM-H Delrin®) and were responsible for formaldehyde production. Laboratory analysis of the four Pandora head sensors showed that internal formaldehyde production had exponential temperature dependence with a damping coefficient of 0.0911±0.0024 °C^-1 and the exponential function amplitude ranging from 0.0041 DU to 0.049 DU. No apparent dependency on the head sensor age and heating/cooling rates was detected. The total amount of formaldehyde internally generated by the POM-H Delrin components and contributing to the direct sun measurements were estimated based on the head sensor temperature and solar zenith angle of the measurements. Measurements in winter, during colder (<10°C) days in general and at high solar zenith angles (> 75 °) were minimally impacted. Measurements during hot days (>28°C) and small solar zenith angles had up to 1 DU (2.69×10¹⁶ molecules/cm²) contribution from POM-H Delrin parts. Multi-axis differential slant column densities were minimally impacted (< 0.01 DU) due to the reference spectrum collected within a short time period with a small difference in head sensor temperature. Three new POM-H Delrin free Pandora head sensors (manufactured in summer 2019) were evaluated for temperature dependent attenuation across the entire spectral range (300 to 530 nm). No formaldehyde or any other absorption above the instrumental noise was observed across the entire spectral range.

Evaluating Sentinel-5P TROPOMI tropospheric NO2 column densities with airborne and Pandora spectrometers near New York City and Long Island Sound

Airborne and ground-based Pandora spectrometer NO₂ column measurements were collected during the 2018 Long Island Sound Tropospheric Ozone Study (LISTOS) in the New York City/Long Island Sound region, which coincided with early observations from the Sentinel-5P TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) instrument. Both airborne- and ground-based measurements are used to evaluate the TROPOMI NO₂ Tropospheric Vertical Column (TrVC) product v1.2 in this region, which has high spatial and temporal heterogeneity in NO₂. First, airborne and Pandora TrVCs are compared to evaluate the uncertainty of the airborne TrVC and establish the spatial representativeness of the Pandora observations. The 171 coincidences between Pandora and airborne TrVCs are found to be highly correlated (r ² =0.92 and slope of 1.03), with the largest individual differences being associated with high temporal and/or spatial variability. These reference measurements (Pandora and airborne) are complementary with respect to temporal coverage and spatial representativity. Pandora spectrometers can provide continuous long-term measurements but may lack areal representativity when operated in direct-sun mode. Airborne spectrometers are typically only deployed for short periods of time, but their observations are more spatially representative of the satellite measurements with the added capability of retrieving at subpixel resolutions of 250m×250m over the entire TROPOMI pixels they overfly. Thus, airborne data are more correlated with TROPOMI measurements (r ² = 0.96) than Pandora measurements are with TROPOMI (r ² = 0.84). The largest outliers between TROPOMI and the reference measurements appear to stem from too spatially coarse a priori surface reflectivity (0.5°) over bright urban scenes. In this work, this results during cloud-free scenes that, at times, are affected by errors in the TROPOMI cloud pressure retrieval impacting the calculation of tropospheric air mass factors. This factor causes a high bias in TROPOMI TrVCs of 4%-11%. Excluding these cloud-impacted points, TROPOMI has an overall low bias of 19%-33% during the LISTOS timeframe of June-September 2018. Part of this low bias is caused by coarse a priori profile input from the TM5-MP model; replacing these profiles with those from a 12 km North American Model-Community Multiscale Air Quality (NAMCMAQ) analysis results in a 12%-14% increase in the TrVCs. Even with this improvement, the TROPOMI-NAMCMAQ TrVCs have a 7%-19% low bias, indicating needed improvement in a priori assumptions in the air mass factor calculation. Future work should explore additional impacts of a priori inputs to further assess the remaining low biases in TROPOMI using these datasets.

Aerosol Field Influence on the Retrieval of the Ozone Vertical Column Densities from Pandora 2S Measurements

Total ozone and other trace gases are measured and reported regularly due to the increased interest started with the ozone hole discovery but the new satellites dedicated to worldwide observations of these species need both short-and long-term well calibrated ground based observation for validation procedures.

The ESA/NASA Pandora network established a sophisticated, automatic calibration procedure that utilizes a variety of narrow-line and broadband emission lamps with temperature control for their UV-Vis-NIR spectroradiometers. In this study, we describe additional calibration efforts for ozone retrievals.

In this paper we explore the local aerosol field influence on the retrieval of the ozone spectra from PANDORA 2S measurements using collocated lidar and sunphotometer measurements and proposed a methodology to be implemented in the calibration procedure of the instruments.

Evaluating the impact of spatial resolution on tropospheric NO2 column comparisons within urban areas using high-resolution airborne data

NASA deployed the GeoTASO airborne UV-Visible spectrometer in May-June 2017 to produce high resolution (approximately 250 × 250 m) gapless NO₂ datasets over the western shore of Lake Michigan and over the Los Angeles Basin. The results collected show that the airborne tropospheric vertical column retrievals compare well with ground-based Pandora spectrometer column NO₂ observations (r²=0.91 and slope of 1.03). Apparent disagreements between the two measurements can be sensitive to the coincidence criteria and are often associated with large local variability, including rapid temporal changes and spatial heterogeneity that may be observed differently by the sunward viewing Pandora observations. The gapless mapping strategy executed during the 2017 GeoTASO flights provides data suitable for averaging to coarser areal resolutions to simulate satellite retrievals. As simulated satellite pixel area increases to values typical of TEMPO, TROPOMI, and OMI, the agreement with Pandora measurements degraded, particularly for the most polluted columns as localized large pollution enhancements observed by Pandora and GeoTASO are spatially averaged with nearby less-polluted locations within the larger area representative of the satellite spatial resolutions (aircraft-to-Pandora slope: TEMPO scale=0.88; TROPOMI scale=0.77; OMI scale=0.57). In these two regions, Pandora and TEMPO or TROPOMI have the potential to compare well at least up to pollution scales of 30×10¹⁵ molecules cm^-2. Two publicly available OMI tropospheric NO₂ retrievals are both found to be biased low with respect to these Pandora observations. However, the agreement improves when higher resolution a priori inputs are used for the tropospheric air mass factor calculation (NASA V3 Standard Product slope = 0.18 and Berkeley High Resolution Product slope=0.30). Overall, this work explores best practices for satellite validation strategies with Pandora direct-sun observations by showing the sensitivity to product spatial resolution and demonstrating how the high spatial resolution NO₂ data retrieved from airborne spectrometers, such as GeoTASO, can be used with high temporal resolution ground-based column observations to evaluate the influence of spatial heterogeneity on validation results.

Evaluating the impact of spatial resolution on tropospheric NO2 column comparisons within urban areas using high-resolution airborne data

NASA deployed the GeoTASO airborne UV-Visible spectrometer in May-June 2017 to produce high resolution (approximately 250 × 250 m) gapless NO₂ datasets over the western shore of Lake Michigan and over the Los Angeles Basin. The results collected show that the airborne tropospheric vertical column retrievals compare well with ground-based Pandora spectrometer column NO₂ observations (r²=0.91 and slope of 1.03). Apparent disagreements between the two measurements can be sensitive to the coincidence criteria and are often associated with large local variability, including rapid temporal changes and spatial heterogeneity that may be observed differently by the sunward viewing Pandora observations. The gapless mapping strategy executed during the 2017 GeoTASO flights provides data suitable for averaging to coarser areal resolutions to simulate satellite retrievals. As simulated satellite pixel area increases to values typical of TEMPO, TROPOMI, and OMI, the agreement with Pandora measurements degraded, particularly for the most polluted columns as localized large pollution enhancements observed by Pandora and GeoTASO are spatially averaged with nearby less-polluted locations within the larger area representative of the satellite spatial resolutions (aircraft-to-Pandora slope: TEMPO scale=0.88; TROPOMI scale=0.77; OMI scale=0.57). In these two regions, Pandora and TEMPO or TROPOMI have the potential to compare well at least up to pollution scales of 30×10¹⁵ molecules cm^-2. Two publicly available OMI tropospheric NO₂ retrievals are both found to be biased low with respect to these Pandora observations. However, the agreement improves when higher resolution a priori inputs are used for the tropospheric air mass factor calculation (NASA V3 Standard Product slope = 0.18 and Berkeley High Resolution Product slope=0.30). Overall, this work explores best practices for satellite validation strategies with Pandora direct-sun observations by showing the sensitivity to product spatial resolution and demonstrating how the high spatial resolution NO₂ data retrieved from airborne spectrometers, such as GeoTASO, can be used with high temporal resolution ground-based column observations to evaluate the influence of spatial heterogeneity on validation results.

Earth Observations from DSCOVR/EPIC Instrument

The NOAA Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft was launched on February 11, 2015, and in June 2015 achieved its orbit at the first Lagrange point or L1, 1.5 million km from Earth towards the Sun. There are two NASA Earth observing instruments onboard: the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). The purpose of this paper is to describe various capabilities of the DSCOVR/EPIC instrument. EPIC views the entire sunlit Earth from sunrise to sunset at the backscattering direction (scattering angles between 168.5° and 175.5°) with 10 narrowband filters: 317, 325, 340, 388, 443, 552, 680, 688, 764 and 779 nm. We discuss a number of pre-processingsteps necessary for EPIC calibration including the geolocation algorithm and the radiometric calibration for each wavelength channel in terms of EPIC counts/second for conversion to reflectance units. The principal EPIC products are total ozone O3amount, scene reflectivity, erythemal irradiance, UV aerosol properties, sulfur dioxide SO2 for volcanic eruptions, surface spectral reflectance, vegetation properties, and cloud products including cloud height. Finally, we describe the observation of horizontally oriented ice crystals in clouds and the unexpected use of the O2 B-band absorption for vegetation properties.

The first evaluation of formaldehyde column observations by improved Pandora spectrometers during the KORUS-AQ field study

The Korea-United States Air Quality Study (KORUS-AQ) conducted during May-June 2016 offered the first opportunity to evaluate direct-sun observations of formaldehyde (HCHO) total column densities with improved Pandora spectrometer instruments. The measurements highlighted in this work were conducted both in the Seoul megacity area at the Olympic Park site (37.5232° N, 27.1260° E; 26 ma.s.l.) and at a nearby rural site downwind of the city at the Mount Taehwa research forest site (37.3123° N, 127.3106° E; 160ma.s.l.). Evaluation of these measurements was made possible by concurrent ground-based in situ observations of HCHO at both sites as well as overflight by the NASA DC-8 research aircraft. The flights provided in situ measurements of HCHO to characterize its vertical distribution in the lower troposphere (0-5km). Diurnal variation in HCHO total column densities followed the same pattern at both sites, with the minimum daily values typically observed between 6:00 and 7:00 local time, gradually increasing to a maximum between 13:00 and 17:00 before decreasing into the evening. Pandora vertical column densities were compared with those derived from the DC-8 HCHO in situ measured profiles augmented with in situ surface concentrations below the lowest altitude of the DC-8 in proximity to the ground sites. A comparison between 49 column densities measured by Pandora vs. aircraft-integrated in situ data showed that Pandora values were larger by 16% with a constant offset of 0.22DU (Dobson units; R 2 = 0.68). Pandora HCHO columns were also compared with columns calculated from the surface in situ measurements over Olympic Park by assuming a well-mixed lower atmosphere up to a ceilometer-measured mixed-layer height (MLH) and various assumptions about the small residual HCHO amounts in the free troposphere up to the tropopause. The best comparison (slope = 1.03±0.03; intercept = 0.29±0.02DU; and R 2 = 0.78±0.02) was achieved assuming equal mixing within ceilometer-measured MLH combined with an exponential profile shape. These results suggest that diurnal changes in HCHO surface concentrations can be reasonably estimated from the Pandora total column and information on the mixed-layer height. More work is needed to understand the bias in the intercept and the slope relative to columns derived from the in situ aircraft and surface measurements.

Effects of local meteorology and aerosols on ozone and nitrogen dioxide retrievals from OMI and pandora spectrometers in Maryland, USA during DISCOVER-AQ 2011

An analysis is presented for both ground- and satellite-based retrievals of total column ozone and nitrogen dioxide levels from the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, metropolitan area during the NASA-sponsored July 2011 campaign of Deriving Information on Surface COnditions from Column and VERtically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ). Satellite retrievals of total column ozone and nitrogen dioxide from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite are used, while Pandora spectrometers provide total column ozone and nitrogen dioxide amounts from the ground. We found that OMI and Pandora agree well (residuals within ±25 % for nitrogen dioxide, and ±4.5 % for ozone) for a majority of coincident observations during July 2011. Comparisons with surface nitrogen dioxide from a Teledyne API 200 EU NO_x Analyzer showed nitrogen dioxide diurnal variability that was consistent with measurements by Pandora. However, the wide OMI field of view, clouds, and aerosols affected retrievals on certain days, resulting in differences between Pandora and OMI of up to ±65 % for total column nitrogen dioxide, and ±23 % for total column ozone. As expected, significant cloud cover (cloud fraction >0.2) was the most important parameter affecting comparisons of ozone retrievals; however, small, passing cumulus clouds that do not coincide with a high (>0.2) cloud fraction, or low aerosol layers which cause significant backscatter near the ground affected the comparisons of total column nitrogen dioxide retrievals. Our results will impact post-processing satellite retrieval algorithms and quality control procedures.

Estimating surface NO2 and SO2 mixing ratios from fast-response total column observations and potential application to geostationary missions

Total-column nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) data collected by a ground-based sun-tracking spectrometer system (Pandora) and an photolytic-converter-based in-situ instrument collocated at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia were analyzed to study the relationship between total-column and surface NO₂ measurements. The measurements span more than a year and cover all seasons. Surface mixing ratios are estimated via application of a planetary boundary-layer (PBL) height correction factor. This PBL correction factor effectively corrects for boundary-layer variability throughout the day, and accounts for up to ≈75 % of the variability between the NO₂ data sets. Previous studies have made monthly and seasonal comparisons of column/surface data, which has shown generally good agreement over these long average times. In the current analysis comparisons of column densities averaged over 90 s and 1 h are made. Applicability of this technique to sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is briefly explored. The SO₂ correlation is improved by excluding conditions where surface levels are considered background. The analysis is extended to data from the July 2011 DISCOVER-AQ mission over the greater Baltimore, MD area to examine the method's performance in more-polluted urban conditions where NO₂ concentrations are typically much higher.

Direct spectral measurements with a Brewer spectroradiometer: absolute calibration and aerosol optical depth retrieval

We present three different methods for the absolute calibration of direct spectral irradiances measured with a Brewer spectroradiometer, which are shown to agree to within +/- 2%. Direct irradiance spectra derived by Brewer and Bentham spectroradiometers agree to within 4 +/- 3%. Good agreement was also found by a comparison of the aerosol optical depth and Angstrom exponent retrieved by the two instruments and a multifilter rotational shadowband radiometer. The spectral aerosol optical depth (300-365 nm) derived from six years of direct irradiance measurements at Thessaloniki shows a distinct seasonal variation, averaging to approximately 0.3 at 340 nm in winter and approximately 0.7 in summer.

Calibration and uncertainty estimation of erythemal radiometers in the argentine ultraviolet monitoring network

The erythemal radiometers of the Ultraviolet Monitoring Network of the Argentine Servicio Meteorológico Nacional were calibrated in an extensive in situ campaign from October 1998 to April 1999 with Austrian reference instruments. Methods to correct the influence of the location's horizon and long-term detector changes are applied. The different terms that contribute to the measurement uncertainty are analyzed. The expanded uncertainty is estimated to be +/- 10% at 70 degrees solar zenith angle (SZA) and +/-6% for a SZA of <50 degrees. We observed significant changes for some detectors over hours and days, reaching a maximum diurnal drift of +/-5% at a SZA of 70 degrees and a maximum weekly variation of +/-4%.