Verification of TROPOMI NO2 Product Using OMI NO2 algorithm

We evaluated S5P TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) operational nitrogen dioxide (NO2) product by comparing with the NO2 retrievals from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard NASA’s Aura satellite. We compared spatially matched NO2 vertical column density (VCD) data from OMI and TROPOMI to identify any discrepancies between the two operational products. We also applied OMI Air-Mass Factor (AMF) algorithm to TROPOMI Slant Column Density (SCD) data (v02.03.01) aiming to create long-term merged NO2 Earth Science Data Record (https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets/TROPOMI_MINDS_NO2_1.1/summary ). The algorithm (version 4.0) uses new Geometry-dependent Lambertian Equivalent surface Reflectivity (GLER) product available for each TROPOMI pixel. GLER is pre-calculated using the vector linearized discrete ordinate radiative transfer (VLIDORT) model, which uses as input high-resolution bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) information from NASA's Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over land and the wind-dependent Cox–Munk wave-facet slope distribution over water, the latter with a contribution from the water-leaving radiance based on MODIS gap-filled in-water chlorophyll-a data. The GLER data, combined with consistently retrieved cloud parameters, provide improved information for the calculation of the scattering weight profiles. Additional AMF improvements result from using high resolution (0.25o latitude x 0.25o longitude) a priori NO2 profile shapes and other auxiliary information from the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) Replay simulation sampled using S5P orbital simulator. Our TROPOMI_MINDS_NO2 algorithm employs the stratosphere-troposphere separation scheme, de-striping, and surface snow/ice treatment consistently with the latest OMI NO2 re-processing (version 4). We evaluate the TROPOMI_MINDS_NO2 product by comparing with the S5P operational NO2 product as well as with independent NO2 observations from ground-based Pandora and aircraft observations. Our results indicate that the new TROPOMI_MINDS_NO2 retrievals are generally higher than the S5P operational NO2 product over polluted regions and show improved agreement with independent validation data.