Comparison of Atmospheric Methane Retrievals From AIRS and IASI

Abstract

Atmospheric methane (CH4) is a standard product of the atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, generated at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (NASA/GES/DISC), and a product of the infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer (IASI) aboard METOP-A,-B, generated at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System. In order to understand the capability of these two sensors in observing the spatial and temporal distribution of CH4 , this paper compares the CH4 products from AIRS and IASI with aircraft measurements, as well as the corresponding time series in tropics and high northern latitude regions. It is found that the mean degree of freedom from AIRS is smaller than IASI by –0.049 ± 0.152, and in their peak sensitive altitude between 350 and 650 hPa their difference (AIRS – IASI) is about 2.8 ± 17.2 ppb. Both AIRS and IASI can capture the latitudinal gradient, but there is a large scattering in the high northern latitude regions. They agree well in observing the summer enhancement of CH4 during the Monsoon season over South Asia, and the seasonal cycles over Siberia (except for a relatively larger difference in the cold season). These results highlight that AIRS and IASI can provide valuable information to capture the spatiotemporal variation of CH4 in the mid-upper troposphere in most periods and regions, but it is needed to further improve the data quality to make a consistent product using both sensors.