Using In Situ Airborne Measurements to Evaluate Pandora Ground-based Remote Sensing Formaldehyde Data Products

Measurements of boundary layer formaldehyde (HCHO) are valuable for air quality monitoring, both because HCHO is classified as an air toxic by the US EPA and because HCHO concentrations directly reflect recent VOC oxidation and therefore are a diagnostic for ozone production. The Pandora network, with instruments deployed across the US and around the world, is a promising source of boundary layer HCHO data but previous evaluation of Pandora HCHO data was limited to total column HCHO at two sites during one campaign. Here we extend the evaluation to include Pandora tropospheric column and profiling data products derived from differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) operation. NASA’s SARP-East program provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the Pandora DOAS data products with profiling spirals by an airborne in situ payload that included the NASA Goddard CAFE HCHO instrument. Comparison of CAFE and Pandora data will be presented with the goal of better informing the Pandora data community of its performance.