TEMPO validation using in-situ measurements of NO2 and HCHO (Invited Presentation)

The NOAA-led Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities and Marine Areas (AEROMMA) field campaign during Summer 2023 sampled the atmosphere over the continental US and marine areas off the west coast. Many of the continental urban flight plans were designed with opportunities to validate the TEMPO instrument which came online midway through the campaign. Flights occurred in the New York City, Chicago, Toronto, and Los Angeles areas and each contained a number of spirals from the minimum flight altitude of about 300 meters to between 5 and 12 km in order to obtain a vertical profile in a limited spatial region that encompassed between about 10 to 25 TEMPO pixels.

In this work, we use in-situ measurements of NO₂ from the NOAA Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) instrument and HCHO from the NASA In-Situ Airborne Formaldehyde (ISAF) instrument on the DC-8 to validate the TEMPO retrievals. We are able to compare the spiral vertical profiles with the GEOS-CF a prioiri profiles that go into the retrievals, and use the in-situ vertical profiles to calculate slant columns and vertical columns that can be compared with the TEMPO slant and vertical columns. We discuss the utility and results of various comparison methodologies and applicability of those towards scientific analysis using the TEMPO data.