First retrieval of tropospheric aerosol profiles using MAX-DOAS and comparison with lidar and sky radiometer measurements

Ground-based Multi-Axis Differential Opti- cal Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements were performed at Tsukuba, Japan (36.1 N, 140.1 E), in November-December 2006. By analyzing the measured spectra of scattered sunlight with DOAS and optimal esti- mation methods, we first retrieve the aerosol optical depth ( ) and the vertical profile of the aerosol extinction coeffi- cient (k) at 476 nm in the lower troposphere. These retrieved quantities are characterized through comparisons with coin- cident lidar and sky radiometer measurements. The retrieved k values for layers of 0-1 and 1-2 km agree with lidar data to within 30% and 60%, respectively, for most cases, includ- ing partly cloudy conditions. Results similar to k at 0-1 km are obtained for the retrieved values, demonstrating that MAX-DOAS provides a new, unique aerosol dataset in the lower troposphere. et al., 2006). The measurements can be performed with a relatively simple setup and very low power consumption. The optical properties that are potentially measurable by MAX-DOAS include the aerosol optical depth () as well as the vertical profile of the aerosol extinction coefficient (k), while the well-established Sun photometer measurement technique can only retrieve optical properties of the total at- mospheric column. The MAX-DOAS technique basically utilizes the differential absorption structures of the oxygen collision complex (O2-O2 or O4) in the visible wavelength region to derive aerosol information. Because no absolute ra- diometric calibrations are generally needed, MAX-DOAS is

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