Abstract
Abstract. Atmospheric thermodynamic parameters, such as atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, cloud optical/microphysical properties, and surface properties are basic meteorological variables for weather forecasting. In addition, they are critical parameters in tropospheric chemistry studies. A physical, geophysical parameter retrieval scheme dealing with cloudy and cloud-free radiances observed with satellite ultraspectral infrared sounders has been developed to determine simultaneously surface, atmospheric thermodynamic, and cloud microphysical parameters. A one-dimensional variational (1-D Var.) multivariable inverse solution of the radiative transfer equation is used to iteratively improve a background state defined by eigenvector regression. This algorithm has been applied to data from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the EUMETSAT Metop-A satellite. The IASI retrieved parameters presented herein are from radiance data gathered during the Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx). JAIVEx provided intensive aircraft observations obtained from airborne Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) systems, such as the NPOESS Airborne Sounder Testbed – Interferometer (NAST-I), in-situ measurements, and dedicated dropsonde and radiosonde measurements for the validation of the IASI products. Here, IASI atmospheric profile retrievals are compared with those obtained from dedicated dropsondes, radiosondes, and the airborne FTS system. The IASI examples presented here demonstrate the ability to retrieve fine-scale horizontal features with high vertical resolution from satellite ultraspectral sounder radiance spectra.
Highlights
Atmospheric and surface thermodynamic parameters retrieved with advanced ultraspectral remote sensors aboard Earth observing satellites are critical to general atmospheric and Earth sciences research, climate monitoring, and weather prediction
This paper presents atmospheric profile results based on the single field-of-view retrieval system applied to the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) spectral radiance measurements during the Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx)
The WB-57 aircraft IASI under-flights within the cross sections shown in Figs. 13 and 14 are used to verify the subtle field evolution that occurred between the time of the IASI and AIRS observations
Summary
Atmospheric and surface thermodynamic parameters retrieved with advanced ultraspectral remote sensors aboard Earth observing satellites are critical to general atmospheric and Earth sciences research, climate monitoring, and weather prediction. The retrieval algorithms for these satellite instruments and their retrieved parameters must be validated to demonstrate the capability and accuracy of both observation and data processing systems. Cloud parameters as well as atmospheric profiles are simultaneously retrieved from infrared (IR) spectral radiance observations with the initially developed EOF regression algorithm using the NPOESS Airborne Sounder Testbed Interferometer (NAST-I) (Cousins and Smith, 1997). Retrieval algorithm development in conjunction with its performance validation is critical for the production of useful atmospheric and surface geophysical parameters as well as for the development of data-processing algorithms for future satellite instruments, such as the NPOESS Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), and for demonstrating the use of the retrievals for improving numerical weather prediction. The capability of satellite ultraspectral IR remote sensors to observe fine-scale horizontal thermodynamic features with high vertical resolution is demonstrated
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