Abstract:The formaldehyde (HCHO) measurement is described by differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique and the data processing method is discussed in detail, including the selection of retrieval wavelength band, the removing of interfering structures, the steps of data processing and the spectrum dealing with nonlinear method. The HCHO concentration retrieved in different wavelength bands were compared, including relative error, repeatability and detection limit. As a result, the band from 314 to 332 nm was most suitable for the retrieval of HCHO. With these methods, high measurement precision of 1.9% was obtained and the detection limit of HCHO is less than 1.5 ppb. In addition, high linear relativity 0.9999 is achieved by measuring five different concentrations of HCHO with this system.