Christian Verwaerde

Validation of GOMOS‐Envisat vertical profiles of O3, NO2, NO3, and aerosol extinction using balloon‐borne instruments and analysis of the retrievals

The UV-visible Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) instrument onboard Envisat performs nighttime measurements of ozone, NO 2 , NO 3 and of the aerosol extinction, using the stellar occultation method. We have conducted a validation exercise using various balloon-borne instruments in different geophysical conditions from 2002 to 2006, using GOMOS measurements performed with stars of different magnitudes. GOMOS and balloon-borne vertical columns in the middle stratosphere are in excellent agreement for ozone and NO 2 . Some discrepancies can appear between GOMOS and balloon-borne vertical profiles for the altitude and the amplitude of the concentration maximum. These discrepancies are randomly distributed, and no bias is detected. The accuracy of individual profiles in the middle stratosphere is 10 % for ozone and 25 % for NO 2 . On the other hand, the GOMOS NO 3 retrieval is difficult and no direct validation can be conducted. The GOMOS aerosol content is also well estimated, but the wavelength dependence can be better estimated if the aerosol retrieval is performed only in the visible domain. We can conclude that the GOMOS operational retrieval algorithm works well and that GOMOS has fully respected its primary objective for the study of the trends of species in the middle stratosphere, using the profiles in a statistical manner. Some individual profiles can be partly inaccurate, in particular in the lower stratosphere. Improvements could be obtained by reprocessing some GOMOS transmissions in case of specific studies in the middle and lower stratosphere when using the individual profiles.

Optical and physical properties of stratospheric aerosols from balloon measurements in the visible and near-infrared domains. II. Comparison of extinction, reflectance, polarization, and counting measurements

The physical properties of stratospheric aerosols can be retrieved from optical measurements involving extinction, radiance, polarization, and counting. We present here the results of measurements from the balloonborne instruments AMON, SALOMON, and RADIBAL, and from the French Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique and the University of Wyoming balloonborne particle counters. A cross comparison of the measurements was made for observations of background aerosols conducted during the polar winters of February 1997 and January-February 2000 for various altitudes from 13 to 19 km. On the one band, the effective radius and the total amount of background aerosols derived from the various sets of data are similar and are in agreement with pre-Pinatubo values. On the other hand, strong discrepancies occur in the shapes of the bimodal size distributions obtained from analysis of the raw measurement of the various instruments. It seems then that the log-normal assumption cannot fully reproduce the size distribution of background aerosols. The effect ofthe presence of particular aerosols on the measurements is discussed, and a new strategy for observations is proposed.

Analysis of two balloon experiments in coincidence with SAGE II in case of large stratospheric aerosol amount: Post‐Pinatubo period

The stratospheric aerosol layer is regularly monitored since 1979 by satellite experiments as Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM II) and Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE I and II). The satellite spectral measurements of transmission permit one to obtain the spectral variations of extinction from which the aerosol size distribution may be derived. Several correlative measurements with a balloon-borne polarimeter, Radiometre Ballon (Radibal), were conducted during the post-El Chichon period to validate the satellite measurements. The radiance and polarization diagrams of the sunlight scattered by the aerosols, measured from the balloon, were analyzed within the primary scattering approximation, and the retrieved aerosol size distribution was compared with the satellite results. Following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo (June 15, 1991), two flights of Radibal were planned to allow a validation in case of large aerosol amount. Because of the importance of the multiple scatterings the usual inversion of the Radibal measurements was no more valid. We propose here an improved scheme to evaluate the coherence of both SAGE II and Radibal that gives excellent results.

Multidirectional visible and shortwave infrared polarimeter for atmospheric aerosol and cloud observation : OSIRIS (Observing System Including PolaRisation in the Solar Infrared Spectrum)

The aim of this project is to improve the characterization of radiative and microphysical properties of aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere. These two atmospheric components and their interactions are among the main sources of uncertainty in the numerical forecast of climate change. In this context, we have designed a new airborne polarimeter for measuring directional, total and polarized radiances in the 440 to 2200 nm spectral range. This instrument is based on the POLDER concept, instrument that is currently aboard the PARASOL microsatellite. This new sensor consists in two optical systems for the visible to near infrared range (440 to 940 nm) and the shortwave infrared (940 to 2200 nm). Each optical system is composed of a wide field-of-view optics (114° and 105° respectively) associated to two rotating wheels for interferential filters and analysers respectively, and a 2D array of detectors. For each channel, the total and polarized radiances are computed using the measurements performed with the three analysers shifted by an angle of 60°. Thanks to the large field of view of the optics, any target is seen under several viewing angles during the aircraft motion. This type of instrument has been designed for the retrieval of optical thickness and microphysical properties of aerosols as well as for the determination of microphysical, macrophysical and radiative properties of clouds. In this paper, we will present this new instrument design and some preliminary results recently obtained during the first field campaign in May 2008 over Europe.