The Pandora 2S (dual spectrometer system) is a spectrometer system taking measurements in the spectral range 290-900 nm with a resolution of 0.6 nm.
It consists of a head sensor with fore-optics, mounted on a sun-tracker and sky-scanner controlled by a computer and connected to two array spectrometers by means of a 400 micron single strand multimode optical fiber. The system is capable of pointing anywhere in the sky in order to perform direct sun, zenith sky, principal plane, or almucantar observations with a 0.01° pointing precision.
The spectrometers are spectrally oversampled: multiple detector elements permits each spectrometer’s slit function to be determined in the laboratory using spectral line lamps and lasers, and improves the capability to match the spectrometer’s measurements with laboratory absorption coefficients and independently measured extraterrestrial solar irradiances.
Working in a wide spectral range, the instrument measures total columns and vertical profiles of trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone, formaldehyde (HCHO)an spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the ultraviolet (>300 nm) and visible range.
A Pandora instrument can join the Pandonia network providing homogeneous calibration, central data processing and formatting, and quick delivery of final data products. The network born for ground-validation of Earth Observation (EO) missions devoted to air-quality monitoring and aerosols and for this reason the spectral range observed by Pandora instruments overlaps with the spectral ranges measured by the instruments on board the Sentinel 5 Precursor and EarthCARE missions.
BAQUNIN Super site hosts three Pandora instruments on for each location: Sapienza, Tor Vergata and Montelibretti, two of these are part of the Pandonia Global Network (PGN).
REF
<ol start=”10″>
<li>Herman, R. Evans, A. Cede, N. Abuhassan, I. Petropavlovskikh, and G. McConville, Comparison of ozone retrievals from the Pandora spectrometer system and Dobson spectrophotometer in Boulder, Colorado, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3407–3418, 2015, doi:10.5194/amt-8-3407-2015</li>
</ol>
<ol start=”10″>
<li>Pinardi, M. Van Roozendael, N. Abuhassan, C. Adams, A. Cede, K. Clemer, C. Fayt, U. Frieß, M. Gil,J. Herman, C. Hermans, F. Hendrick, H. Irie, A. Merlaud, M. Navarro Comas, E. Peters, A. J. M. Piters,O. Puentedura, A. Richter, A. Schonhardt, R. Shaiganfar, E. Spinei, K. Strong, H. Takashima,M. Vrekoussis, T. Wagner, F. Wittrock, and S. Yilmaz, MAX-DOAS formaldehyde slant column measurements during CINDI: intercomparison and analysis improvement, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 167–185, 2013, doi:10.5194/amt-6-167-2013</li>
</ol>
Jay Herman, Alexander Cede, Elena Spinei, George Mount, Maria Tzortziou and Nader Abuhassan, NO2 column amounts from ground-based Pandora and MFDOAS spectrometers using the direct-sun DOAS technique: Intercomparisons and application to OMI validation, JGR, VOL. 114, D13307, 2009, doi:10.1029/2009JD011848
PI: Stefano Casadio, Stefano.Casadio@serco.com
<u><a href=”http://pandonia.net/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>http://pandonia.net/</a></u>
<u><a href=”http://pandonia-global-network.org/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>http://pandonia-global-network.org/</a></u>