Applications of satellite data in tropospheric research

Task group 2 has aimed to demonstrate how tropospheric data products derived from satellite measurements can be evaluated and employed for scientific applications. The synergistic usage with model results and with data from aircraft and ground measurement has been carried out, in order to improve the qualitative and quantitative interpretation and the understanding of dynamical, physical and chemical processes in the troposphere and the tropopause region. Satellite data are ideally suited to supply initialisation, boundary conditions, and test data for chemistry transport models (CTMs) on regional and global scales, and coupled global chemistry-climate models (CCMs). In this sense, the activities of this TROPOSAT task group has included: — case studies with CTMs including inversion of transport processes, e.g. with Lagrangian tracer models;— validation of CTMs and CCMs; and— comparison and interpretation of model results and individual observations with satellite data.