Usability of optical spectrum analyzer in measuring atmospheric CO2 and CH4 column densities: inspection with FTS and aircraft profiles in situ

Abstract

The practical usefulness of a desktop optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) for measuring atmospheric CO2 and CH4 column densities at surface sites was examined in two separate measurement campaigns. The first comparison involved operating the OSA in parallel with a high resolution Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) situated at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Scale factors for the OSA were assigned for the column average volume mixing ratios of xCO2 and xCH4 by comparing with the well-studied FTS. The second method is a calibration against aircraft CO2 profiles in situ over Tsukuba in Japan obtained during a GOSAT validation campaign carried out from 28 January to 7 February 2011. The xCO2 values in the campaign, deduced by use of a derived OSA scale factor, were in excellent agreement with the integrated aircraft profiles.