The University of Leicester full physics XCO2 retrieval: Expected performance with the CO2M mission

Antonio Di Noia,  University of Leicester,  adn9@le.ac.uk (Presenter)
Hartmut Boesch,  University of Leicester,  hartmut.boesch@le.ac.uk
Oleg Dubovik,  University of Lille,  oleg.dubovik@univ-lille.fr
David Fuertes,  GRASP-SAS,  david.fuertes@grasp-sas.com
Pavel Litvinov,  GRASP-SAS,  pavel.litvinov@grasp-sas.com
Anton Lopatin,  GRASP-SAS,  anton.lopatin@grasp-sas.com

The Copernicus Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission will aim at quantify human emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Among the innovative aspects of the CO2M mission is the simultaneous availability of a high-resolution spectrometer (CO2I) for CO2 measurements and of a multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) for aerosol characterization. The University of Leicester full-physics (UoL-FP) XCO2 retrieval currently characterizes aerosols by using data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reanalysis. Mass mixing ratios for the aerosol types defined in CAMS, and the respective prescribed optical properties, are used to build a priori extinction profiles that are then further optimized during the XCO2 retrieval. One limitation of such approach is that any incorrect assumptions about aerosol optical properties may cause biases in the retrieved XCO2.

The availability of MAP measurements simultaneous to those of the CO2I spectrometer allows to directly estimate part of the aerosol optical properties, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the XCO2 retrieval to a priori assumptions. In order to incorporate aerosol information from MAP measurement in the UoL-FP algorithm, a sequential retrieval approach is under development. This will use aerosol properties retrieved through the Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP) algorithm to build an aerosol prior for the UoL-FP XCO2 retrieval from CO2I measurements.

Predicting the performance of the proposed sequential GRASP-UoL-FP approach requires an extensive dataset of synthetic observations that mimic the expected observation conditions of the two CO2M instruments. In this presentation, we will discuss the synthetic dataset generated at UoL to simulate CO2I and MAP measurements, and the preliminary results of synthetic retrievals, with particular emphasis on the role of assumptions about aerosol properties.

Poster: Poster_Di_Noia__94_25.pdf 

Presentation Type: Poster

Session: 1.2c Results expected from future missions

Session Date: Monday (6/14) 9:45 AM