Stratospheric ozone and nitrogen dioxide total column and vertical profiles in southern Portugal during 2004-2007

Abstract

The SPATRAM (Spectrometer for Atmospheric TRAcers Monitoring) instrument has been developed by the collaboration between CGE-UE, ISAC-CNR and ENEA. SPATRAM is a multi-purpose UV-Vis-NIR spectrometer (250-950 nm). It is installed at the Observatory of the CGE since April 2004 and actually it is utilized to carry-out measurements of the zenith scattered radiation, the so-called "Passive mode", in order to retrieve-by application of DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) methodology-the vertical content of some atmospheric tracers such as Ozone (O3) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2). For the continuous NO2 monitoring the 425-455 nm spectral region is investigated. For the Ozone retrieval the spectral interval 320-340 nm is chosen. In this study, after a brief description of the instrument, a short explanation of the DOAS methodology and of the inversion algorithms used for the determination of the vertical distribution of the some atmospheric compounds are provided. The obtained results in terms of diurnal and seasonal variation of O3 and NO2 total column are presented. The measurements are in good agreement with the photochemical theory of NO2 and O3, showing the maximum values during the summer season and the minimum during the winter. In addition the application, to the output of the DOAS program, of sophisticated inversion schemes, using the Air Mass Factor (AMF) matrix as the kernel of the inversion algorithm, allowed for the determination of vertical distribution of some atmospheric tracers. The results obtained for NO2 and O3 are presented and discussed.