Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik

UP 10: Poster: Umweltphysik

UP 10.21: Poster

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 17:48–19:00, VMP 9 Poster

Measurements of NO₂ using MAX-DOAS observations of sun-illuminated targets — •Umar Javed, Henning Kirk, Andreas Richter, Anja Schönhardt, Folkard Wittrock, and John P. Burrows — Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Bremen, Deutschland

Nitrogen oxide radicals (NO + NO₂) are important trace gases in the atmosphere. They originate from combustion processes, lightning and soil emissions and largely control the tropospheric ozone production Since several decades it is possible to measure NO₂ with different techniques. However, for the spatial distribution in the troposphere considerable uncertainty exists. Here we present measurements of NO₂ on and close to the campus of the University of Bremen applying a novel technique: Topographic Target Light scattering Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (ToTaL-DOAS, Frins et al.). The basic idea is to collect scattered sunlight reflected from natural and artificial targets (e.g. high buildings) at different distances from the measuring device. Then recorded spectra are analyzed for NO₂ applying the DOAS method. Simple geometric treatments of the light-path reveal NO₂ concentrations in the boundary layer as a final data set. This study presents NO₂ data in 2008 in the surrounding of the University of Bremen. In addition for some days the ZARM Drop Tower has been used as illuminated target to investigate the vertical distribution of NO₂. Selected data sets have been compared to complementary measurements of the regular iup Bremen MAX-DOAS setup and to the Bremian BLUES air pollution network.