Sensitivity of thermal infrared sounders to the chemical and micro-physical properties of UTLS secondary sulphate aerosols

Abstract

Abstract. Monitoring upper tropospheric-lower stratospheric (UTLS) secondary sulphate aerosols and their chemical and micro-physical properties from satellite nadir observations is crucial to better understand their formation and evolution processes and then to estimate their impact to the UTLS chemistry, and on regional and global radiative balance. Here we present a study aimed at the evaluation of the sensitivity of thermal infrared (TIR) satellite nadir observations to the chemical composition and the size distribution of idealized UTLS sulphate aerosol layers. The extinction properties of sulphuric acid/water droplets, for different sulphuric acid mixing ratios and temperatures, are systematically analysed. The extinction coefficients are derived by means of a Mie code, using refractive indexes taken from the GEISA (Gestion et Étude des Informations Spectroscopiques Atmosphériques: Management and Study of Spectroscopic Information) spectroscopic database and log-normal size distributions with different effective radii and number concentrations. IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) pseudo-observations are generated using forward radiative transfer calculations performed with the 4A (Automatized Atmospheric Absorption Atlas) radiative transfer model, to estimate the impact of the extinction of idealized aerosol layers, at typical UTLS conditions, on the brightness temperature spectra observed by this satellite instrument. We found a marked and typical spectral signature of these aerosol layers between 700 and 1200 cm−1, due to the absorption bands of the sulphate and bi-sulphate ions and the undissociated sulphuric acid, with the main absorption peaks at 1170 and 905 cm−1. The dependence of the aerosol spectral signature to the sulphuric acid mixing ratio, and effective number concentration and radius, as well as the role of interferring parameters like the ozone, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and ash absorption, and temperature and water vapour profile uncertainties, are analyzed and critically discussed.