Nucaps Atmospheric Sounding and Trace Gas Products from Jpss-Cris, Metop-Iasi, and Next Generation Hyperspectral Sounders

Abstract

The NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) is the official operational hyperspectral enterprise sounding product system that produces vertical profiles of temperature, water vapor, ozone, and various trace gas products (e.g., CO, CH4, and CO2). The NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) has implemented the NUCAPS enterprise algorithm to produce these atmospheric and trace gas products from the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS, NOAA-20, and the JPSS-2 satellite expected to be launched in September 2022) Cross-track Infrared Sounders (CrIS), and from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (IASI) instruments aboard the Meteorological Operational Satellite Program (MetOp-B, C, 9:30 AM/PM orbit) series of satellites. In pursuance of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellite Second Generation (EUMETSAT-SG, expected launch in September 2022) IASI Next Generation (IASI-NG) hyperspectral observations, NOAA STAR has initiated refinements to the NUCAPS algorithm to produce NOAA unique products from the IASI-NG hyperspectral sounder. This paper presents an overview of the NUCAPS atmospheric composition and trace gas products, performance, and utilization for many regional and global applications. Refinements and augmenting the NUCAPS for EPS-SG IASI, recent improvements to the data products accommodating user needs, upgrades to the data products to support near-real-time applications are discussed. In addition, continued efforts towards reprocessing to generate mission-long high-quality science products and geophysical data products via direct broadcast networks are discussed for user awareness and international collaborations.