Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data

This study considers methods for assessing the quality of orbital observations, quantifying drift over time, and the application of correction methods to long-term series. AIRS v6 (IR-only) satellite methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) and carbon monoxide (CO) total column (TC) measurements were co...

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Main Authors: Vadim Rakitin, Eugenia Fedorova, Andrey Skorokhod, Natalia Kirillova, Natalia Pankratova, Nikolai Elansky
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Remote Sensing
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/13/2323
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author Vadim Rakitin
Eugenia Fedorova
Andrey Skorokhod
Natalia Kirillova
Natalia Pankratova
Nikolai Elansky
author_facet Vadim Rakitin
Eugenia Fedorova
Andrey Skorokhod
Natalia Kirillova
Natalia Pankratova
Nikolai Elansky
author_sort Vadim Rakitin
collection DOAJ
description This study considers methods for assessing the quality of orbital observations, quantifying drift over time, and the application of correction methods to long-term series. AIRS v6 (IR-only) satellite methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) and carbon monoxide (CO) total column (TC) measurements were compared with NDACC ground station data from 2003 to 2022. For CH<sub>4</sub>, negative trends were observed in the difference between satellite and ground measurements (AIRS-GR) at all 18 stations (mean drift: 1.69 × 10<sup>14</sup> ± 0.31 × 10<sup>14</sup> molecules/cm<sup>2</sup> per day), suggesting a shift in the orbital spectrometer parameters is probable. The application of a dynamic correction based on this drift coefficient significantly improved the correlation with satellite data for both daily means and trends at all stations. In contrast, AIRS v6 CO measurements showed a strong initial correlation (R = 0.93 for the entire dataset, and R ~ 0.8–0.95 for separate stations) without systematic drift, i.e., the trends of AIRS-GR at individual sites were oppositely directed and statistically insignificant. Therefore, the AIRS v6 CO TC satellite product does not require additional correction within this method. The developed methodology for satellite data verification and correction is supposed to be universal and applicable to other long-term orbital observations.
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spelling doaj-art-40d7e22e223b4eb9967e50c82accd5fb2025-08-20T03:16:42ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922025-07-011713232310.3390/rs17132323Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO DataVadim Rakitin0Eugenia Fedorova1Andrey Skorokhod2Natalia Kirillova3Natalia Pankratova4Nikolai Elansky5Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119017, RussiaObukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119017, RussiaObukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119017, RussiaObukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119017, RussiaObukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119017, RussiaObukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119017, RussiaThis study considers methods for assessing the quality of orbital observations, quantifying drift over time, and the application of correction methods to long-term series. AIRS v6 (IR-only) satellite methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) and carbon monoxide (CO) total column (TC) measurements were compared with NDACC ground station data from 2003 to 2022. For CH<sub>4</sub>, negative trends were observed in the difference between satellite and ground measurements (AIRS-GR) at all 18 stations (mean drift: 1.69 × 10<sup>14</sup> ± 0.31 × 10<sup>14</sup> molecules/cm<sup>2</sup> per day), suggesting a shift in the orbital spectrometer parameters is probable. The application of a dynamic correction based on this drift coefficient significantly improved the correlation with satellite data for both daily means and trends at all stations. In contrast, AIRS v6 CO measurements showed a strong initial correlation (R = 0.93 for the entire dataset, and R ~ 0.8–0.95 for separate stations) without systematic drift, i.e., the trends of AIRS-GR at individual sites were oppositely directed and statistically insignificant. Therefore, the AIRS v6 CO TC satellite product does not require additional correction within this method. The developed methodology for satellite data verification and correction is supposed to be universal and applicable to other long-term orbital observations.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/13/2323atmospheric compositiontrendsremote sensingorbital observationsmethanecarbon monoxide
spellingShingle Vadim Rakitin
Eugenia Fedorova
Andrey Skorokhod
Natalia Kirillova
Natalia Pankratova
Nikolai Elansky
Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data
Remote Sensing
atmospheric composition
trends
remote sensing
orbital observations
methane
carbon monoxide
title Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data
title_full Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data
title_fullStr Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data
title_full_unstemmed Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data
title_short Principles of Correction for Long-Term Orbital Observations of Atmospheric Composition, Applied to AIRS v.6 CH<sub>4</sub> and CO Data
title_sort principles of correction for long term orbital observations of atmospheric composition applied to airs v 6 ch sub 4 sub and co data
topic atmospheric composition
trends
remote sensing
orbital observations
methane
carbon monoxide
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/13/2323
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