Potential of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor for the monitoring of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence

Global monitoring of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is improving our knowledge about the photosynthetic functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The feasibility of SIF retrievals from spaceborne atmospheric spectrometers has been demonstrated by a number of studies in the last years. In this work, we investigate the potential of the upcoming TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite mission for SIF retrieval. TROPOMI will sample the 675–775 nm spectral window with a spectral resolution of 0.5 nm and a pixel size of 7 km × 7 km. We use an extensive set of simulated TROPOMI data in order to assess the uncertainty of single SIF retrievals and subsequent spatio-temporal composites. Our results illustrate the enormous improvement in SIF monitoring achievable with TROPOMI with respect to comparable spectrometers currently in-flight, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instrument. We find that TROPOMI can reduce global uncertainties in SIF mapping by more than a factor of 2 with respect to GOME-2, which comes together with an approximately 5-fold improvement in spatial sampling. Finally, we discuss the potential of TROPOMI to map other important vegetation parameters at a global scale with moderate spatial resolution and short revisit time. Those include leaf photosynthetic pigments and proxies for canopy structure, which will complement SIF retrievals for a self-contained description of vegetation condition and functioning

Life-history characteristics of Theodore’s threadfin bream, Nemipterus theodorei (Ogilby, 1916), and the yellow-lip butterfly bream, Nemipterus aurifilum (Ogilby, 1910), from southern Queensland, Australia

Theodore’s threadfin bream (Nemipterus theodorei) and the yellow-lip butterfly bream (Nemipterus aurifilum) are two of the most common nemipterids in eastern Queensland. These two species are caught incidentally and at times retained for sale as ‘permitted’ species in Australia’s largest trawl fishery, the Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery (QECOTF). Despite their prevalence, little biological information is available for these species. This paper reports key life-history characteristics of these nemipterids. Growth and length-at-maturity parameters were estimated from samples collected in southern Queensland. Growth parameters were estimated using back-calculation of fork length (FL) from otolith increment data and modelled within a Bayesian framework to overcome bias resulting from the small number of larger, older animals in the retained bycatch. The von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) was identified as the most appropriate growth model with significant differences in sex-specific growth rates evident for both species. Maximum ages were six and four years for N. theodorei and N. aurifilum respectively, with individuals maturing within their first year of life. The length-at-maturity for females was 91 mm FL and 77 mm FL for N. theodorei and N. aurifilum respectively. Increased reproductive activity was observed in the austral spring and summer months. The results from this study can be used to assess the ecological risk posed to these species by the QECOTF. © 2022, Queensland Museum. All rights reserved

"A novel Whole Air Sample Profiler (WASP) for the quantification of volatile organic compounds in the boundary layer" published in Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2703–2712, 2013

International audienceThe AMT executive editors received a complaint that the method presented in the paper by Mak et al. (2013) was largely based on an earlier invention by Pieter Tans (see e.g., the paper by Karion et al., 2010), but this earlier invention was not mentioned or referenced in the paper by Mak et al. (2013). For the AMT executive editors it is not possible to make a clear decision in this conflict. Unfortunately, it was also not possible to reach a consensus between the involved parties. This editorial note thus has two aims: 1. to make the readers of the paper by Mak et al. (2013) aware of this conflict

Observations over Hurricanes from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument

There is an apparent inconsistency between the total column ozone derived from the total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) and aircraft observations within the eye region of tropical cyclones. The higher spectral resolution, coverage, and sampling of the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) on NASA s Aura satellite as compared with TOMS allows for improved ozone retrievals by including estimates of cloud pressure derived simultaneously using the effects of rotational Raman scattering. The retrieved cloud pressures from OM1 are more appropriate than the climatological cloud-top pressures based on infrared measurements used in the TOMS and initial OM1 algorithms. We find that total ozone within the eye of hurricane Katrina is significantly overestimated when we use climatological cloud pressures. Using OMI-retrieved cloud pressures, total ozone in the eye is similar to that in the surrounding area. The corrected total ozone is in better agreement with aircraft measurements that imply relatively small or negligible amounts of stratospheric intrusion into the eye region of tropical cyclones

Accurate satellite-derived estimates of the tropospheric ozone impact on the global radiation budget

Estimates of the radiative forcing due to anthropogenically-produced tropospheric O3 are derived primarily from models. Here, we use tropospheric ozone and cloud data from several instruments in the A-train constellation of satellites as well as information from the GEOS-5 Data Assimilation System to accurately estimate the radiative effect of tropospheric O3 for January and July 2005. Since we cannot distinguish between natural and anthropogenic sources with the satellite data, our derived radiative effect reflects the unadjusted (instantaneous) effect of the total tropospheric O3 rather than the anthropogenic component. We improve upon previous estimates of tropospheric ozone mixing ratios from a residual approach using the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) by incorporating cloud pressure information from OMI. We focus specifically on the magnitude and spatial structure of the cloud effect on both the short- and long-wave radiative budget. The estimates presented here can be used to evaluate the various aspects of model-generated radiative forcing. For example, our derived cloud impact is to reduce the radiative effect of tropospheric ozone by ~16%. This is centered within the published range of model-produced cloud effect on unadjusted ozone radiative forcing

Size and emotion or depth and emotion? Evidence, using Matryoshka (Russian) dolls, of children using physical depth as a proxy for emotional charge

Background: The size and emotion effect is the tendency for children to draw people and other objects with a positive emotional charge larger than those with a negative or neutral charge. Here we explored the novel idea that drawing size might be acting as a proxy for depth (proximity).Methods: Forty-two children (aged 3-11 years) chose, from 2 sets of Matryoshka (Russian) dolls, a doll to represent a person with positive, negative or neutral charge, which they placed in front of themselves on a sheet of A3 paper. Results: We found that the children used proximity and doll size, to indicate emotional charge. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the notion that in drawings, children are using size as a proxy for physical closeness (proximity), as they attempt with varying success to put positive charged items closer to, or negative and neutral charge items further away from, themselves

Good for the planet and good for our health: the evidence for whole-food plant-based diets

There is growing interest in the health and environmental benefits of whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diets. The current global food system is harmful to our planet and is a key driver of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. A transition to WFPB diets will mitigate against these impacts and potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%. Emerging evidence suggests that such diets also have significant physical and mental health benefits and can be useful in preventing and treating a range of conditions. Psychiatrists therefore have an important role to play in promoting WFPB diets among patients

Potential of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor for the monitoring of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence

Global monitoring of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is improving our knowledge about the photosynthetic functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The feasibility of SIF retrievals from spaceborne atmospheric spectrometers has been demonstrated by a number of studies in the last years. In this work, we investigate the potential of the upcoming TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite mission for SIF retrieval. TROPOMI will sample the 675–775 nm spectral window with a spectral resolution of 0.5 nm and a pixel size of 7 km × 7 km. We use an extensive set of simulated TROPOMI data in order to assess the uncertainty of single SIF retrievals and subsequent spatio-temporal composites. Our results illustrate the enormous improvement in SIF monitoring achievable with TROPOMI with respect to comparable spectrometers currently in-flight, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instrument. We find that TROPOMI can reduce global uncertainties in SIF mapping by more than a factor of 2 with respect to GOME-2, which comes together with an approximately 5-fold improvement in spatial sampling. Finally, we discuss the potential of TROPOMI to map other important vegetation parameters at a global scale with moderate spatial resolution and short revisit time. Those include leaf photosynthetic pigments and proxies for canopy structure, which will complement SIF retrievals for a self-contained description of vegetation condition and functioning

Detection of Multi-Layer and Vertically-Extended Clouds Using A-Train Sensors

The detection of mUltiple cloud layers using satellite observations is important for retrieval algorithms as well as climate applications. In this paper, we describe a relatively simple algorithm to detect multiple cloud layers and distinguish them from vertically-extended clouds. The algorithm can be applied to coincident passive sensors that derive both cloud-top pressure from the thermal infrared observations and an estimate of solar photon pathlength from UV, visible, or near-IR measurements. Here, we use data from the A-train afternoon constellation of satellites: cloud-top pressure, cloud optical thickness, the multi-layer flag from the Aqua MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the optical centroid cloud pressure from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). For the first time, we use data from the CloudSat radar to evaluate the results of a multi-layer cloud detection scheme. The cloud classification algorithms applied with different passive sensor configurations compare well with each other as well as with data from CloudSat. We compute monthly mean fractions of pixels containing multi-layer and vertically-extended clouds for January and July 2007 at the OMI spatial resolution (l2kmx24km at nadir) and at the 5kmx5km MODIS resolution used for infrared cloud retrievals. There are seasonal variations in the spatial distribution of the different cloud types. The fraction of cloudy pixels containing distinct multi-layer cloud is a strong function of the pixel size. Globally averaged, these fractions are approximately 20% and 10% for OMI and MODIS, respectively. These fractions may be significantly higher or lower depending upon location. There is a much smaller resolution dependence for fractions of pixels containing vertically-extended clouds (approx.20% for OMI and slightly less for MODIS globally), suggesting larger spatial scales for these clouds. We also find higher fractions of vertically-extended clouds over land as compared with ocean, particularly in the tropics and summer hemisphere

Analysis of satellite-derived Arctic tropospheric BrO columns in conjunction with aircraft measurements during ARCTAS and ARCPAC

We derive tropospheric column BrO during the ARCTAS and ARCPAC field campaigns in spring 2008 using retrievals of total column BrO from the satellite UV nadir sensors OMI and GOME-2 using a radiative transfer model and stratospheric column BrO from a photochemical simulation. We conduct a comprehensive comparison of satellite-derived tropospheric BrO column to aircraft in-situ observations of BrO and related species. The aircraft profiles reveal that tropospheric BrO, when present during April 2008, was distributed over a broad range of altitudes rather than being confined to the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Perturbations to the total column resulting from tropospheric BrO are the same magnitude as perturbations due to longitudinal variations in the stratospheric component, so proper accounting of the stratospheric signal is essential for accurate determination of satellite-derived tropospheric BrO. We find reasonably good agreement between satellite-derived tropospheric BrO and columns found using aircraft in-situ BrO profiles, particularly when satellite radiances were obtained over bright surfaces (albedo \u3e0.7), for solar zenith angl