ESRL-CIRES Fellowship Topic:
Enhancing Optical Remote Sensing capabilities of a NOAA research aircraft by Airborne Multi-Axes Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (AMAX-DOAS)
The Optical Remote Sensing group at ESRL is seeking to enhance its capabilities to study ozone and aerosol air pollution from research aircraft. In close collaboration with the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy Laboratory at CU Boulder, the successful candidate will help develop an AMAX-DOAS instrument and integrate it on a NOAA Twin-Otter research aircraft, which is currently equipped with an ozone and aerosol LIDAR system for air quality studies. The AMAX-DOAS instrument will add novel trace gas remote sensing capabilities to the aircraft to complement the lidar measurements. In particular, it will enable measurements of NO2, SO2, and possibly BrO, IO, formaldehyde, glyoxal, ozone and other pollutants that absorb in the near UV and visible regions. AMAX-DOAS fills an existing gap in currently existing observational capabilities from air quality monitoring networks (at ground-level) and satellites (top-down view); it allows testing of the quantitative use of satellites to infer emissions for air quality purposes, and provides for a more direct comparison with photochemical models that are the basis for policy and management of air resources. During July-August of 2008 the Twin-Otter will perform initial test measurements in the Boulder-Denver area. A second phase of test flights will be performed in 2009, in preparation to optimize the AMAX-DOAS instrument for deployment as part of the planned CalNex campaign to study Air Quality and aerosol life cycles in California in 2010. Addition of the AMAX-DOAS will enable simultaneous retrieval of spatial distribution of some of the key pollutants in the lower atmosphere and, in particular, from concentrated (e.g., power plant) and diffuse (e.g., from urban regions) plumes.
NOAA ESRL Contacts
Mike Hardesty
Mike.Hardesty@noaa.gov
Andy Langford
Andrew.O.Langford@noaa.gov
