HR: 0800h
AN: A51C-0782    [Abstracts]
TI: Ideal Spatial Resolution of Satellite Observed Ozone in the Lower Troposphere
AU: * Loughner, C P
EM: Chris. Loughner@dri.edu
AF: Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512 United States
AU: Lary, D J
EM: David.J.Lary@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Stockwell, W R
EM: William.Stockwell@dri.edu
AF: Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512 United States
AB: Satellite observations have the potential to accurately portray atmospheric chemistry and air quality. A proper spatial resolution of space based observations is critical to effectively observe air quality. The goal of this project was to find the ideal spatial resolution for satellite observations of ozone in the lower troposphere. Variograms, a plot of spatial dependence, were created to calculate the spatial length scale of ozone in the lower troposphere in a set of sensitivity experiments from a mesoscale meteorological model (MM5) and an air quality model (CAMx) set of simulations at 4, 8, 12, and 16 km resolutions. Variograms were created to find the spatial dependence of ozone in the east-west and north-south directions according to each CAMx simulation. In the east-west direction the variograms' spatial length scale converges at 60 km as the model simulations decreased from 16 to 4 km, so the length scale of spatial dependence in the east-west direction is 60 km. In the north-south direction the length scale is of similar magnitude but there is no spatial length scale convergence. Therefore, it would be helpful to have more air quality simulations at lower resolutions until a convergence is seen to determine the ideal spatial resolution in the north-south direction. However, the spatial length scale in the north-south direction was equal or greater than 60 km for all resolutions and greater than 60 km for the 4 km simulation. So, the analysis indicates that the smallest length scale is in the east-west direction at 60 km. According to the Nyquist sampling theorem, satellite platforms should have a spatial resolution of at least 30 km to effectively monitor ozone in the lower troposphere, and preferably of around 10 to 15 km.
DE: 0345 Pollution--urban and regional (0305)
DE: 0365 Troposphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting