Characterization and verification of ACAM slit functions for trace-gas retrievals during the 2011 DISCOVER-AQ flight campaign
The Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper (ACAM), an ultraviolet/visible/near-infrared spectrometer, has been flown on board the NASA UC-12 aircraft during the Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) campaigns to...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2015-02-01
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| Series: | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |
| Online Access: | http://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/8/751/2015/amt-8-751-2015.pdf |
| Summary: | The Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper (ACAM), an
ultraviolet/visible/near-infrared spectrometer, has been flown on board the
NASA UC-12 aircraft during the Deriving Information on Surface
Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air
Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) campaigns to provide remote sensing observations of tropospheric
and boundary-layer pollutants from its radiance measurements. To assure the
trace-gas retrieval from ACAM measurements we perform detailed
characterization and verification of ACAM slit functions. The wavelengths
and slit functions of ACAM measurements are characterized for the air-quality channel (~304–500 nm) through cross-correlation with
a high-resolution solar irradiance reference spectrum after necessarily
accounting for atmospheric gas absorption and the ring effect in the
calibration process. The derived slit functions, assuming a hybrid
combination of asymmetric Gaussian and top-hat slit functions, agree very
well with the laboratory-measured slit functions. Comparisons of trace-gas
retrievals between using derived and measured slit functions demonstrate
that the cross-correlation technique can be reliably used to characterize
slit functions for trace-gas retrievals. |
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| ISSN: | 1867-1381 1867-8548 |