Ground-Based Observations

Between balloon and aircraft campaigns, the MkIV instrument is used to make ground-based observations. Although these measurements lack the vertical resolution that is attainable from balloon platforms, ground-based observations can nevertheless be made much more frequently - MkIV has averaged over 100 days of observation per year recently. Ground-based observations are an accurate method of ascertaining whether the composition of the Earth's stratosphere is changing.


Ground-based Data Set Description:

PI: Geoffrey C. Toon, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Co-I's: Bhaswar Sen, Jean-François Blavier, JPL

Instrument: JPL MkIV Interferometer

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Ground-based Observation Sites (sorted by latitude)
LocationKeyLatitude
(deg.)		Longitude
(deg.)		Altitude
(km)
Esrange, Sweden ESN +67.889 +21.085 0.271
Ft Wainwright, Fairbanks, Alaska FAI +64.830 -147.614 0.182
Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Canada LYL +56.858 -101.066 0.354
Mt. Barcroft, California MTB +37.584 -118.235 3.801
ARC, Mountain View, California ARC +37.430 -122.080 0.010
Daggett, California DAG +34.856 -116.790 0.626
Ft Sumner, New Mexico FTS +34.480 -104.220 1.260
TMF, Wrightwood, California TMF +34.382 -117.677 2.258
JPL, Pasadena, California JPL +34.200 -118.172 0.340
NSBF, Palestine, Texas PAL +31.780 -95.700 0.100
McMurdo, Antarctica MCM -77.847 +166.728 0.100
+ve Latitude = N ; +ve Longitude = E

Measurement Quantities:

Vertical column abundances (molec.cm-2) of: H2O, CO2, O3, N2O, CO, CH4, NO, NO2, NH3, HNO3, HF, HCl, OCS, H2CO, ClNO3, HCN, CFC-12, COF2, C2H6, C2H2, N2, HCFC-22, HDO, and SF6

Contact Information:

G.C. Toon
Mail-Stop 183-601
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA
Phone: 818-354-8259
FAX: 818-354-5148
Email: Geoffrey.C.Toon@jpl.nasa.gov

B. Sen

Mail-Stop 183-601
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA
Phone: 818-354-1165
FAX: 818-354-5148
Email: bhaswar.sen@jpl.nasa.gov

J.-F. Blavier

Mail-Stop 183-601
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA
Phone: 818-354-6665
FAX: 818-354-5148
Email: JeanFrancois.L.Blavier@jpl.nasa.gov

Instrument Description:

The MkIV interferometer is a high resolution FTIR spectrometer designed and built at JPL in the early 1980's for solar absorption measurements. The MkIV employes a double-passed optical configuration for compactness and to provide passive shear compensation. Two parallel detectors, an HgCdTe photoconductor covering 650-1950 cm-1 and an InSb photodiode covering 1850-5650 cm-1, allow the entire mid-infrared spectrum to be measured simultaneously. For ground-based observations an optical path difference of 117 cm is usually employed, which takes about 3 minutes per scan sampling every fringe of a .633 um He:Ne laser at 10kHz.

Algorithm Description:

Column abundances were derived using the GFIT algorithm, developed at JPL for the analysis of solar absorption spectra. Initial vertical profiles were based on balloon measurements, which were then stretched or squashed until the measured HF absorption was matched. These profiles were then scaled in order to derive the vertical column abundances. The HITRAN_96 linelist was used for the analyses, complemented by the pseudolines for the gases CCl4, CFC-11, CFC-12, CF4, SF6, ClNO3, and HCFC-22.

Expected Precision/Accuracy of Measurements:

The precision of these column abundances were determined from the quality of the spectral fits by the GFIT algorithm and are included in the exchange file for each measurement of each gas. Accuracies are more difficult to determine.

For each balloon flight we also performed many days of ground-based observation while waiting for good launch conditions. This explains the large number of different sites from which the MkIV instrument has made measurements.

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MkIV Observation Days from various sites

(Last update: 2004-11-06):
SiteESNFAILYLMTBARCDAGFTSTMFJPLPALMCM(DC8)Total
1985 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 5
1986 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 20 0 24
1987 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 10 14
1988 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 2 9
1989 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 10 3 0 10 30
1990 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 13 0 0 0 20
1991 0 0 0 0 3 0 7 0 40 0 0 0 50
1992 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 32 0 0 18 61
1993 0 0 0 0 0 21 10 0 33 0 0 0 64
1994 0 0 0 3 0 0 5 0 47 0 0 0 55
1995 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 72 0 0 0 72
1996 0 0 11 0 0 0 6 6 30 0 0 0 53
1997 0 47 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 65
1998 0 0 0 14 0 0 0 24 8 0 0 0 45
1999 1 0 0 33 0 0 0 0 16 0 0 0 50
2000 21 0 0 29 0 0 0 0 26 0 0 0 76
2001 0 0 0101 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 101
2002 0 0 0 78 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 84
2003 24 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 6 0 0 0 35
2004 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 9 0 0 0 13
Total 46 47 11257 3 21 62 33383 3 20 40 926

Reference Articles:

Farmer, C.B., G.C.Toon, P.W.Schaper, J.-F.Blavier, and L.L.Lowes, Stratospheric Trace Gases in the Spring 1986 Antarctic Atmosphere, Nature, 32, 126-130, 1987

Toon, G.C., C.B.Farmer, P.W.Schaper, J.-F.Blavier, and L.L.Lowes, Ground-based Infrared Measurements of Tropospheric Source Gases over Antarctica during the 1986 Austral Spring, J.Geophys.Res., 94, 11613-11624, 1989

Toon, G.C., C.B.Farmer, L.L.Lowes, P.W.Schaper, J.-F.Blavier, and R.H.Norton, Infrared Aircraft Measurements of Stratospheric Composition over Antarctica during September 1987, J.Geophys.Res., 94, 16571-16596, 1989

Toon, G.C., The JPL MkIV Interferometer, Optics and Photonics News, 2, 19-21, 1991

Toon, G.C., C.B.Farmer, P.W.Schaper, L.L.Lowes, and R.H.Norton, Composition Measurements of the 1989 Arctic Winter Stratosphere by Airborne Infrared Solar Absorption Spectroscopy, J.Geophys.Res., 97, 7939-7961, 1992

Toon, G.C., J.-F.Blavier and J.T.Szeto, Latitude variations of stratospheric trace gases, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 2599-2602, 1994

Traub, W.A., K.W.Jucks, D.G.Johnson, M.T.Coffey, W.G.Mankin and G.C.Toon, Comparison of column abundances from three infrared spectrometers during AASE2, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 2591-2594, 1994

Notholt, J., G.C.Toon, R.Lehmann, B.Sen, and J.-F.Blavier, Comparison of Arctic and Antarctic trace gas column abundances from ground-based Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, J.Geophys.Res., 102, 12863-12869, 1997

Chipperfield, M.P., M.Burton, W.Bell, C.Paton-Walsh, T.Blumenstock, M.T.Coffey, J.W.Hannigan, W.G.Mankin, B.Galle, J.Mellqvist, E.Mahieu, R.Zander, J.Notholt, B.Sen, and G.C.Toon, On the use of HF as a reference for the comparison of stratospheric observations and models, J.Geophys.Res., 102, 12901-12919, 1997

Pougatchev, N.S., N.B.Jones, B.J.Connor, C.P.Rinsland, E.Becker, M.T.Coffey, V.S.Connors, Ph.Demoulin, A.V.Dzhola, H.Fast, E.I.Grechko, J.W.Hannigan, M.Koike, Y.Kondo, E.Mahieu, W.G.Mankin, R.L.Mittermeier, J.Notholt, H.G.Reichle Jr., B.Sen, G.C.Toon, L.N.Yurganov, R.Zander, and Y.Zhao, Ground-based infrared solar spectroscopic measurements of carbon monoxide during 1994 MAPS flights, J.Geophys.Res., 103, 19317-19325, 1998

Toon, G. C., J.-F. Blavier, B. Sen, R. J. Salawitch, G. B. Osterman, J. Notholt, M. Rex, C. T. McElroy, and J. M. Russell III, Ground-based observations of Arctic ozone loss during spring and summer 1997, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 26,497-26,510, 1999

Lloyd, S., W. H. Swartz, T. Kusterer, D. Anderson, C. T. McElroy, C. Midwinter, R. Hall, K. Nassim, D. Jaffe, W. Simpson, J. Kelley, D. Griffin, B. Johnson, R. Evans, D. Quincy, S. Oltmans, P. Newman, R. McPeters, G. Labow, L. Moy, C. Seftor, G. C. Toon, B. Sen, and J.-F. Blavier, Intercomparison of total ozone observations at Fairbanks, Alaska, during POLARIS, J.Geophys.Res., 104, 26,767-26,778, 1999

Goldman, A., C. Paton-Walsh, W. Bell, G. C. Toon, J.-F. Blavier, B. Sen, M. T. Coffey, J. W. Hannigan, and W. G. Mankin, Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change Fourier transform infrared intercomparison at Table Mountain Facility, November, 1996, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 30,481-30,503, 1999

Yang, A., G.C. Toon, J.S. Margolis, P.O. Wennberg, Atmospheric CO2 retrieved from ground-based near IR spectra, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(9), doi:10.1029/2001GL014537, 2002.

Mellqvist, J., B. Galle, T. Blumenstock, F. Hase, D. Yaschov, J. Notholt, B. Sen, G.C.Toon, and M.Chipperfield, Ground-based FTIR observations of chlorine activation and ozone depletion inside the Arctic vortex during the winter of 1999/2000, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D20), doi:10.1029/2001JD001080, 2002.

Rinsland, C.P., E. Mahieu, R. Zander, N.B. Jones, M.P. Chipperfield, A. Goldman, J. Anderson, J.M. Russell III, P. Demoulin, J. Notholt, G.C. Toon, J.-F.Blavier, B. Sen, R. Sussmann, S.W. Wood, A. Meier, D.W.T. griffith, L.S. Chiou, F.J. Murcray, T.M. Stephen, F. Hase, S. Mikuteit, A. Schulz, and T. Blumenstock, Long-term trends of inorganic chlorine from ground-based infrared solar spectra: Past increases and evidence of stabilization, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D8), 4252, doi:10.1029/2002JD003001, 2003.

Notholt, J., Z. Kuang, C. P. Rinsland, G. C. Toon, M. Rex, N. Jones, T. Albrecht, H. Deckelmann, J. Krieg, C. Weinzierl, H. Bingeme r, R. Weller, O. Schrems, Enhanced upper tropical tropospheric COS: Impact on th e stratospheric aerosol layer, Science , 300, 307-310, 2003


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