Comparison of tropospheric NO2 columns from MAX-DOAS retrievals and regional air quality model simulations

Anne-Marlene Blechschmidt (1) , Joaquim Arteta (2) , Adriana Coman (3, 4, 5) , Lyana Curier (6) , Henk Eskes (7) , Gilles Foret (8, 4, 5) , Clio Gielen (9) , Francois Hendrick (9) , Virginie Marécal (10) , Frédérik Meleux (11) , Jonathan Parmentier , Enno Peters (12, 13) , Gaia Pinardi (14) , Ankie Piters (7) , Matthieu Plu (10) , Andreas Richter (12) , Arjo Segers (15) , Mikhail Sofiev (16) , Álvaro Valdebenito (17) , Michel van Roozendael (9) , Julius Vira , Tim Vlemmix , John Burrows

1 Universität Bremen
2 Météo-France
3 IPSL (FR_636) - Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace
4 LISA (UMR_7583) - Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques
5 LISA (UMR_7583) - Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques
6 LaMP - Laboratoire de météorologie physique
7 KNMI - Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
8 NAVIER UMR 8205 - Laboratoire Navier
9 BIRA-IASB - Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique
10 CNRM - Centre national de recherches météorologiques
11 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
12 IUP - Institute of Environmental Physics [Bremen]
13 Institute for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures
14 BIRA-IASB - Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
15 TNO - The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
16 FMI - Finnish Meteorological Institute
17 CMM - Centre de modélisation mathématique / Centro de Modelamiento Matemático [Santiago]

Abstract. Multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) tropospheric NO2 column retrievals from four European measurement stations are compared to simulations from five regional air quality models which contribute to the European regional ensemble forecasts and reanalyses of the operational Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). Compared to other observational data usually applied for regional model evaluation, MAX-DOAS data are closer to the regional model data in terms of horizontal and vertical resolution, and multiple measurements are available during daylight, so that, for example, diurnal cycles of trace gases can be investigated. In general, there is good agreement between simulated and retrieved NO2 column values for individual MAX-DOAS measurements with correlations between 35 % and 70 % for individual models and 45 % to 75 % for the ensemble median for tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs), indicating that emissions, transport and tropospheric chemistry of NOx are on average well simulated. However, large differences are found for individual pollution plumes observed by MAX-DOAS. Most of the models overestimate seasonal cycles for the majority of MAX-DOAS sites investigated. At the urban stations, weekly cycles are reproduced well, but the decrease towards the weekend is underestimated and diurnal cycles are overall not well represented. In particular, simulated morning rush hour peaks are not confirmed by MAX-DOAS retrievals, and models fail to reproduce observed changes in diurnal cycles for weekdays versus weekends. The results of this study show that future model development needs to concentrate on improving representation of diurnal cycles and associated temporal scalings.

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Anne-Marlene Blechschmidt, Joaquim Arteta, Adriana Coman, Lyana Curier, Henk Eskes, et al.. Comparison of tropospheric NO2 columns from MAX-DOAS retrievals and regional air quality model simulations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2020, 20 (5), pp.2795-2823. ⟨10.5194/acp-20-2795-2020⟩. ⟨hal-04568644⟩