Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) play vital roles in atmospheric photochemical processes. Their tropospheric vertical column density (TVCD) distributions have been monitored by satellite instruments. Evaluation of these observations is essential for applying these observations to study photochemistry. Assessing satellite products using observations at rural sites, where local emissions are minimal, is particularly useful due in part to the spatial homogeneity of trace gases. In this study, we evaluate OMI and TROPOMI NO2and HCHO TVCDs using multi‐axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX‐DOAS) measurements at a rural site in the east coast of the Shandong province, China in spring 2018 during the Ozone Photochemistry and Export from China Experiment (OPECE) measurement campaign. On days not affected by local burning, we found generally good agreement of NO2data after using consistent a priori profiles in satellite and MAX‐DOAS retrievals and accounting for low biases in scattering weights in one of the OMI products. In comparison, satellite HCHO products exhibited weaker correlations with MAX‐DOAS data, in contrast to satellite NO2products. However, TROPOMI HCHO products showed significantly better agreement with MAX‐DOAS measurements compared to OMI data. Furthermore, case studies of the vertical profiles measured by MAX‐DOAS on burning days revealed large enhancements of nitrous acid (HONO), NO2, and HCHO in the upper boundary layer, accompanied with considerable variability, particularly in HONO enhancements.
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10203572
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 20
- ISSN:
- 1680-7324
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 12329 to 12345
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12329-2020
