1 research outputs found
Quantifying TOLNet ozone lidar accuracy during the 2014 DISCOVER-AQ and FRAPPÉ campaigns
The Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) is a unique network of lidar
systems that measure high-resolution atmospheric profiles of ozone. The
accurate characterization of these lidars is necessary to determine the
uniformity of the network calibration. From July to August 2014, three
lidars, the TROPospheric OZone (TROPOZ) lidar, the Tunable Optical Profiler
for Aerosol and oZone (TOPAZ) lidar, and the Langley Mobile Ozone Lidar
(LMOL), of TOLNet participated in the Deriving Information on Surface
conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air
Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) mission and the Front Range Air Pollution and
Photochemistry Éxperiment (FRAPPÉ) to measure ozone variations from
the boundary layer to the top of the troposphere. This study presents the
analysis of the intercomparison between the TROPOZ, TOPAZ, and LMOL lidars,
along with comparisons between the lidars and other in situ ozone instruments
including ozonesondes and a P-3B airborne chemiluminescence sensor. The
TOLNet lidars measured vertical ozone structures with an accuracy generally
better than ±15 % within the troposphere. Larger differences occur at
some individual altitudes in both the near-field and far-field range of the
lidar systems, largely as expected. In terms of column average, the TOLNet
lidars measured ozone with an accuracy better than ±5 % for both the
intercomparison between the lidars and between the lidars and other
instruments. These results indicate that these three TOLNet lidars are
suitable for use in air quality, satellite validation, and ozone modeling
efforts