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In June 2009, 22 spectrometers from 14 institutes measured tropospheric and stratospheric NO2 from the ground for more than 11 days during the Cabauw Intercomparison Campaign of Nitrogen Dioxide measuring Instruments (CINDI), at Cabauw, NL (51.97° N, 4.93° E). All visible instruments used a common wavelength range and set of cross sections for the spectral analysis. Most of the instruments were of the multi-axis design with analysis by differential spectroscopy software (MAX-DOAS), whose non-zenith slant columns were compared by examining slopes of their least-squares straight line fits to mean values of a selection of instruments, after taking 30-min averages. Zenith slant columns near twilight were compared by fits to interpolated values of a reference instrument, then normalised by the mean of the slopes of the best instruments. For visible MAX-DOAS instruments, the means of the fitted slopes for NO2 and O4 of all except one instrument were within 10% of unity at almost all non-zenith elevations, and most were within 5%. Values for UV MAX-DOAS instruments were almost as good, being 12% and 7%, respectively. For visible instruments at zenith near twilight, the means of the fitted slopes of all instruments were within 5% of unity. This level of agreement is as good as that of previous intercomparisons, despite the site not being ideal for zenith twilight measurements. It bodes well for the future of measurements of tropospheric NO2, as previous intercomparisons were only for zenith instruments focussing on stratospheric NO2, with their longer heritage.

Three years of Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAXDOAS) measurements (2011–2013) have been used for estimating the NO2 mixing ratio along a horizontal line of sight from the high mountain Subtropical observatory of Izaña, at 2370 m a.s.l. (NDACC station, 28.3° N, 16.5° W). The method is based on horizontal path calculation from the O2–O2 collisional complex at the 477 nm absorption band which is measured simultaneously to the NO2, and is applicable under low aerosols loading conditions. The MAXDOAS technique, applied in horizontal mode in the free troposphere, minimizes the impact of the NO2 contamination resulting from the arrival of MBL airmasses from thermally forced upwelling breeze during central hours of the day. Comparisons with in-situ observations show that during most of measuring period the MAXDOAS is insensitive or very little sensitive to the upwelling breeze. Exceptions are found during pollution events under southern wind conditions. On these occasions, evidence of fast efficient and irreversible transport from the surface to the free troposphere is found. Background NO2 vmr, representative of the remote free troposphere, are in the range of 20–45 pptv. The observed seasonal evolution shows an annual wave where the peak is in phase with the solar radiation. Model simulations with the chemistry-climate CAM-Chem model are in good agreement with the NO2 measurements, and are used to further investigate the possible drivers of the NO2 seasonality observed at Izaña.

In the present work, atmospheric mineral dust from a MACC-II short reanalysis run for two years (2007–2008), has been evaluated over Northern Africa and Middle East using satellite aerosol products (from MISR, MODIS and OMI satellite sensors), ground-based AERONET data, in-situ PM10 concentrations from AMMA, and extinction vertical profiles from two ground-based lidars and CALIOP. The MACC-II aerosol optical depth (AOD) spatial and temporal (seasonal and interannual) variability shows good agreement with those provided by satellite sensors. The capability of the model to reproduce AOD, Ångström exponent (AE) and dust optical depth (DOD) from daily to seasonal time-scale is quantified over twenty-six AERONET stations located in eight geographically distinct regions by using statistical parameters. Overall DOD seasonal variation is fairly well simulated by MACC-II in all regions, although the correlation is significantly higher in dust transport regions than in dust source regions. The ability of MACC-II in reproducing dust vertical profiles has been assessed by comparing seasonal averaged extinction vertical profiles simulated by MACC-II under dust conditions with corresponding extinction profiles obtained with lidar instruments at M'Bour and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and with CALIOP. We find a good agreement in dust layers structures and averaged extinction vertical profiles between MACC-II, the lidars and CALIOP above the marine boundary layer from 1 to 6 km. Surface dust daily mean concentrations from MACC-II reanalysis has been evaluated with daily averaged PM10 at three monitoring stations of the Sahelian Dust Transect. MACC-II correctly reproduces daily to interannual surface dust concentration variability, although it underestimates daily and monthly means all year long, especially in winter and early spring (dry season). MACC-II reproduces well the dust variability recorded along the station-transect which reflects the variability in dust emission by different Saharan sources, but fails in reproducing the sporadic and very strong dust events associated to mesoscale convective systems during the wet season.

A new approximation is proposed to estimate O3 and NO2 mixing ratios in the Northern Subtropics Free Troposphere (FT). Multi Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) high mountain measurements, recorded at Izaña Observatory (28°18' N, 16°29' W), are used in this work. Proposed method uses horizontal and near-zenith geometries to estimate the station level differential path. Two different methods are described. First one uses retrieved Slant Column Densities (SCD) of O4. On second method, path is estimated from LIBRADTRAN radiative transfer model for the region and season. Results show that under low aerosol loading, O3 and NO2 mixing ratios concentrations can be retrieved with moderately low errors. Obtained concentrations have been compared with in situ instrumentation on the observatory. O3 concentration in FT is found to be in the range of 40–80 ppb, approximately. NO2 is in the range of 20–30 ppt, below the detection limit of in situ instrumentation. The different air masses scanned by each instrument have been identified as a cause of discrepancy between O3 observed by MAX-DOAS and in situ.