NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Spatial and Temporal Variability of Trace Gas Columns Derived from WRF/Chem Regional Model Output: Planning for Geostationary Observations of Atmospheric CompositionWe quantify both the spatial and temporal variability of column integrated O3, NO2, CO, SO2, and HCHO over the Baltimore / Washington, DC area using output from the Weather Research and Forecasting model with on-line chemistry (WRF/Chem) for the entire month of July 2011, coinciding with the first deployment of the NASA Earth Venture program mission Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ). Using structure function analyses, we find that the model reproduces the spatial variability observed during the campaign reasonably well, especially for O3. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument will be the first NASA mission to make atmospheric composition observations from geostationary orbit and partially fulfills the goals of the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission. We relate the simulated variability to the precision requirements defined by the science traceability matrices of these space-borne missions. Results for O3 from 0- 2 km altitude indicate that the TEMPO instrument would be able to observe O3 air quality events over the Mid-Atlantic area, even on days when the violations of the air quality standard are not widespread. The results further indicated that horizontal gradients in CO from 0-2 km would be observable over moderate distances (≥ 20 km). The spatial and temporal results for tropospheric column NO2 indicate that TEMPO would be able to observe not only the large urban plumes at times of peak production, but also the weaker gradients between rush hours. This suggests that the proposed spatial and temporal resolutions for these satellites as well as their prospective precision requirements are sufficient to answer the science questions they are tasked to address.
Document ID
20150022424
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Accepted Manuscript (Version with final changes)
External Source(s)
Authors
M B Follette-Cook
(Morgan State University Baltimore, Maryland, United States)
K Pickering
(Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland, United States)
J Crawford
(Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia, United States)
B Duncan
(Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland, United States)
C Loughner
(University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland, United States)
G Diskin
(Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia, United States)
A Fried
(University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, Colorado, United States)
A Weinheimer
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Date Acquired
December 8, 2015
Publication Date
July 17, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Atmospheric Environment
Publisher: Elsevier
Volume: 118
Issue Publication Date: October 1, 2015
ISSN: 1352-2310
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN20583
Report Number: GSFC-E-DAA-TN20583
ISSN: 1352-2310
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG11HP16A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX12AD03A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
TEMPO
trace gases from satellite
ozone precursors
No Preview Available