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Home > G2.11 Lack of rigorous tropospheric ozone lidar error budget availability

G2.11 Lack of rigorous tropospheric ozone lidar error budget availability

Submitted by Anna Mikalsen on 12 June, 2017 - 10:40
[1]
Gap abstract: 

Tropospheric ozone has an impact on air quality and acts as a greenhouse gas and therefore plays a role in public and environmental health, as well as climate change, linking the two subjects. In order to establish tropospheric ozone trends, more high-quality and high-frequency observations are needed (see G.2.10) and a rigorous error budget is required. Measurements of tropospheric ozone by means of the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique are close to reference quality and may meet this need if development of traceable products can be realised. The methodology of rigorous error-budget calculations is available, but needs to be implemented across available data sources.

Part I Gap Description

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Primary gap type: 
  • Implementation of uncertainty budget and calibration
ECVs impacted: 
  • Ozone
User category/Application area impacted: 
  • Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), operational data assimilation development, etc.)
  • Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
Non-satellite instrument techniques involved: 
Lidar
Related gaps: 

G2.10 Tropospheric ozone profile data from non - satellite measurement sources is limited and improved capability is needed to characterise new satellite missions [2]

Submitted by Anna Mikalsen [3] on 9 June, 2017 - 16:14
[1]
Gap abstract: 

Tropospheric ozone has an impact on air quality and acts as a greenhouse gas and therefore plays a role in public and environmental health, as well as climate change, linking the two subjects. Establishing processes and trends in tropospheric ozone, in particular in the free troposphere, above the mixed layer and below the stratosphere, is difficult due to a lack of data. Also, ozone soundings using balloon borne samplers are too scarce to capture the relatively high spatial and temporal variability in the troposphere. Contrary to stratospheric ozone, passive satellite observations have limited access to information about tropospheric ozone. However, new sensors on the next generation of satellite measurements shall have better tropospheric sensing capabilities, and shall require validation.

Part I Gap Description

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Primary gap type: 
  • Spatiotemporal coverage
Secondary gap type: 
  • Vertical domain and/or vertical resolution
ECVs impacted: 
  • Ozone
User category/Application area impacted: 
  • Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS), operational data assimilation development, etc.)
  • Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
Non-satellite instrument techniques involved: 
Ozonesonde
Lidar
Pandora
Detailed description: 

Tropospheric ozone has an impact on air quality and acts as a greenhouse gas and therefore plays a role in public and environmental health, as well as climate change, linking the two subjects. Establishing processes and trends in tropospheric ozone, in particular in the free troposphere, above the mixed layer and below the stratosphere, is difficult due to a lack of direct observational data. Tropospheric ozone is much more variable in space and time than stratospheric ozone due to transport and chemistry. The frequency and accuracy of the observations should ideally be adjusted to account for this elevated variability. In addition, the balloon borne ozone samplers are optimised for stratospheric observations, which implies sub optimal performance in the troposphere. Therefore, other observational techniques are required to fill the need for observations of tropospheric ozone from non-satellite sources that are more routinely operational. Contrary to stratospheric ozone, passive satellite observations have limited access to information about tropospheric ozone as the TOA down view is largely dominated by the much higher stratospheric loadings across the sensitive regions of the E-M spectrum. However, currently planned missions are envisaged to have better tropospheric ozone sensing capabilities. Also, ozone soundings using balloon borne samplers are too scarce to capture the relatively high spatial and temporal variability in the troposphere.

Operational space missions or space instruments impacted: 
Copernicus Sentinel 4/5
MetOp
MetOp-SG
Polar orbiters
Geostationary satellites
UV/VIS nadir
Passive sensors

OMPS

Validation aspects addressed: 
Geophysical product (Level 2 product)
Gridded product (Level 3)
Assimilated product (Level 4)
Time series and trends
Representativity (spatial, temporal)
Calibration (relative, absolute)
Gap status after GAIA-CLIM: 
After GAIA-CLIM this gap remains unaddressed
Identified benefitUser category/Application area benefittedProbability of benefit being realisedImpacts
Upcoming satellite missions will have improved capabilities for tropospheric ozone. Sub-orbital observation capacity will be used to assess the satellite data quality.
  • Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
  • Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
  • Medium
  • Low
Improved knowledge of tropospheric ozone will reduce uncertainty in radiative transfer (climate) and improve results for chemistry.
User category/Application area benefitted: 
Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
Probability of benefit being realised: 
Medium
Identified riskUser category/Application area at riskProbability of risk being realisedImpacts
Tropospheric ozone profile data is relatively scarce and limits applicability to range of activities including tropospheric ozone validation from satellites.
  • Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
  • Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
  • High
Remaining gap in appropriate data sources to optimally use new satellite data and to understand processes in the troposphere related to the linkage between air pollution and climate change.
User category/Application area at risk: 
Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
Probability of risk being realised: 
High
Gap remedies: 

Remedy 1: Expand coverage of differential absorption lidars to improve ability to characterise tropospheric ozone [4]

Primary gap remedy type: 
Deployment
Secondary gap remedy type: 
Technical
Proposed remedy description: 

An increase in data on tropospheric ozone is expected from various space-borne platforms with increased capabilities, such as OMPS, TES and TROPOMI and the instruments proposed for Sentinel 4 and 5. However, a reinforcement of the ground based observational capacity is also required to validate these space-borne observations and establish high-quality time series. An increase in the number of ozone balloon borne soundings is not likely due to the high costs involved (material and personnel). There is a potential for tropospheric ozone lidars (using the differential absorption lidar technique) to fill this gap. In the US, a network of tropospheric ozone lidars has been established (TOLNET). Similar initiatives could be pursued in Europe, where a latent tropospheric ozone lidar network could be revived. In Europe, such a network might become part of ACTRIS, the European Research Infrastructure which deals with short-lived greenhouse agents. Similar efforts are required in other areas of the globe to enable full characterisation of tropospheric ozone capabilities by future satellite missions.

Relevance: 

An increase in data on tropospheric ozone is expected from various space-borne platforms with increased capabilities, such as OMPS, TES and TROPOMI and the instruments proposed for Sentinel 4 and 5. However, a reinforcement of the ground based observational capacity is also required to validate these space borne observations and establish high-quality time series. The issue is relevant to understand the links between air pollution and climate change. Satellite data alone will likely not suffice to fill the gap.

Measurable outcome of success: 

A measure of success is the increase in the number of available tropospheric ozone profiles.

Expected viability for the outcome of success: 
  • Medium
Scale of work: 
  • Programmatic multi-year, multi-institution activity
Time bound to remedy: 
  • Less than 3 years
Indicative cost estimate (investment): 
  • High cost (> 5 million)
Indicative cost estimate (exploitation): 
  • Yes
Potential actors: 
  • EU H2020 funding
  • Copernicus funding
  • National funding agencies
  • National Meteorological Services
  • WMO
  • ESA, EUMETSAT or other space agency
Detailed description: 

Tropospheric ozone has an impact on air quality and acts as a greenhouse gas and therefore plays a role in public and environmental health, as well as climate change, linking the two subjects. In order to establish trends, more observations are needed (see G.2.10) and a rigorous error budget is needed for these observations to assure their quality. Tropospheric ozone profiles can be attained from lidar measurements (amongst others). Measurements of tropospheric ozone by means of the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique are described in detail, metrologically characterised, and processed in a consistent comparable manner. Such data would greatly aid efforts at the characterisation of new and planned space missions which are envisaged to be capable of measuring tropospheric ozone changes and variability. Although these descriptions are now available, these should be more widely implemented across available data sources. In case of networked operation of tropospheric ozone DIAL instruments, this could be achieved by centralised data processing. However, not all available data sources are readily accessible and several rely on diverse, in-house developed processing and analysis techniques.

Operational space missions or space instruments impacted: 
Copernicus Sentinel 4/5
Meteosat Third Generation (MTG)
MetOp
MetOp-SG
Polar orbiters
Geostationary satellites
Passive sensors

OMPS

Validation aspects addressed: 
Geophysical product (Level 2 product)
Gridded product (Level 3)
Assimilated product (Level 4)
Time series and trends
Representativity (spatial, temporal)
Calibration (relative, absolute)
Gap status after GAIA-CLIM: 
GAIA-CLIM has partly closed this gap

GAIA-CLIM work on metrological characterisation has led to a partial resolution of this gap.

Identified benefitUser category/Application area benefittedProbability of benefit being realisedImpacts
Upcoming satellite missions will have improved capabilities for tropospheric ozone. Data available from existing tropospheric ozone DIAL instruments will be traceable.
  • Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
  • Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
  • High
Improved knowledge of tropospheric ozone will reduce uncertainty in radiative transfer (climate) and improve results for chemistry.
User category/Application area benefitted: 
Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
Probability of benefit being realised: 
High
Identified riskUser category/Application area at riskProbability of risk being realisedImpacts
Lack of rigorous tropospheric O3 lidar error budget availability
  • Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
  • Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
  • High
Reduced level of traceability of tropospheric ozone lidar measurements leading to ambiguity in downstream applications such as satellite cal/val.
User category/Application area at risk: 
Operational services and service development (meteorological services, environmental services, Copernicus services C3S & CAMS, operational data assimilation development, etc.)
Climate research (research groups working on development, validation and improvement of ECV Climate Data Records)
Probability of risk being realised: 
High
Gap remedies: 

Remedy 1: Create and disseminate a fully traceable reference quality DIAL lidar product [5]

Primary gap remedy type: 
Deployment
Secondary gap remedy type: 
Technical
Deployment
Education/Training
Proposed remedy description: 

Work has been undertaken to attain a fully traceable product for the DIAL lidar technique to measure tropospheric ozone profile data. A traceability chain has been fully documented. The uncertainty in each step in the processing chain has been quantified in a robust manner. Documentation as to how to undertake such traceable measurements has been published in the peer reviewed literature. Now these methods and calculations need to be implemented across potential networks and individual stations. This requires funding support to networks and individual sites to enable measurements to be undertaken in a comparable manner. It also requires support for centralised processing, archival and dissemination.

Relevance: 

The issue is highly relevant for any application that uses ground based tropospheric ozone lidar data as a reference. In particular to understand the tropospheric ozone budget and the reduction of the uncertainties in estimation of the resulting radiative forcing.

Measurable outcome of success: 

Established (published in peer reviewed journal) error budget calculation scheme.

Expected viability for the outcome of success: 
  • High
Scale of work: 
  • Single institution
  • Consortium
Time bound to remedy: 
  • Less than 1 year
Indicative cost estimate (investment): 
  • Low cost (< 1 million)
Indicative cost estimate (exploitation): 
  • Yes
Ongoing annual costs to maintain (low)
Potential actors: 
  • EU H2020 funding
  • Copernicus funding
  • National funding agencies
  • National Meteorological Services
  • WMO
  • ESA, EUMETSAT or other space agency
Dependencies: 

Gap 2.10 relates to the provision of more observations. Gap 2.11 should thus be addressed at the same time or after closing G2.10.

Source URL: http://www.gaia-clim.eu/wikipage2/g211-lack-rigorous-tropospheric-ozone-lidar-error-budget-availability

Links
[1] mailto:gaid@gaia-clim.eu?subject=Feedback%20on%20Gap%201.02
[2] http://www.gaia-clim.eu/wikipage2/g210-tropospheric-ozone-profile-data-non-satellite-measurement-sources-limited-and
[3] http://www.gaia-clim.eu/users/anna-mikalsen
[4] http://www.gaia-clim.eu/gapremedy/remedy-1-expand-coverage-differential-absorption-lidars-improve-ability-characterise
[5] http://www.gaia-clim.eu/gapremedy/remedy-1-create-and-disseminate-fully-traceable-reference-quality-dial-lidar-product