Title: Combined use of space-borne observations of NO₂ and regional CTM model for air quality monitoring in Northern Italy

Authors: A. Petritoli; E. Palazzi; G. Giovanelli; W. Di Nicolantonio; G. Ballista; C. Carnevale; G. Finzi; E. Pisoni; M. Volta

Addresses: Institute of Atmospheric Science and Climate, ISAC-CNR, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy ' Institute of Atmospheric Science and Climate, ISAC-CNR, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy ' Institute of Atmospheric Science and Climate, ISAC-CNR, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy ' Carlo Gavazzi Space at ISAC-CNR, via P. Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy ' Carlo Gavazzi Space at ISAC-CNR, via P. Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy ' Department of Electronics for Automation, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Electronics for Automation, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Electronics for Automation, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy ' Department of Electronics for Automation, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy

Abstract: In this paper SCIAMACHY observations of earth radiance are used to retrieve nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) tropospheric column by DOAS spectrometric technique and radiative transfer modelling for AMF computation. These satellite column measurements are then merged with TCAM model simulations, to improve the model output at the ground level. The method used is a weighted rescaling of the model column in the troposphere according to the SCIAMACHY observations where the weights are the measurement errors and the model column variances within the satellite ground pixel, respectively. A comparison with ground level measurements shows good agreement mainly where well-horizontal mixing is present.

Keywords: EOS data; CTMs; chemical transport models; NO2; nitrogen dioxide; dispersion modelling; air quality; air pollution; satellite observations; Italy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2011.047332

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2011 Vol.47 No.1/2/3/4, pp.158 - 166

Published online: 30 Apr 2015 *

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