Mitchell D. Goldberg

AIRS/AMSU/HSB on the Aqua mission: design, science objectives, data products, and processing systems

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) form an integrated cross-track scanning temperature and humidity sounding system on the Aqua satellite of the Earth Observing System (EOS). AIRS is an infrared spectrometer/radiometer that covers the 3.7-15.4-/spl mu/m spectral range with 2378 spectral channels. AMSU is a 15-channel microwave radiometer operating between 23 and 89 GHz. HSB is a four-channel microwave radiometer that makes measurements between 150 and 190 GHz. In addition to supporting the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations interest in process study and climate research, AIRS is the first hyperspectral infrared radiometer designed to support the operational requirements for medium-range weather forecasting of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administrations National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and other numerical weather forecasting centers. AIRS, together with the AMSU and HSB microwave radiometers, will achieve global retrieval accuracy of better than 1 K in the lower troposphere under clear and partly cloudy conditions. This paper presents an overview of the science objectives, AIRS/AMSU/HSB data products, retrieval algorithms, and the ground-data processing concepts. The EOS Aqua was launched on May 4, 2002 from Vandenberg AFB, CA, into a 705-km-high, sun-synchronous orbit. Based on the excellent radiometric and spectral performance demonstrated by AIRS during prelaunch testing, which has by now been verified during on-orbit testing, we expect the assimilation of AIRS data into the numerical weather forecast to result in significant forecast range and reliability improvements.

Validation of AIRS and IASI Temperature and Water Vapor Retrievals with Global Radiosonde Measurements and Model Forecasts

Atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles retrieved from the Aqua-Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument and the MetOp-Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer instrument are validated with global radiosonde measurements and forecasts.

Intercomparison of AIRS Ozone Profiles and Total Ozone Retrievals with Matched Ozonesonde Measurements and ECMWF Forecast Data

An evaluation of the ozone profiles and the total ozone retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder data is performed using matched World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Center global ozonesonde profiles and total ozone measurements.

Intercomparison of AIRS Temperature and Water Vapor Retrievals with Matched Radiosonde Measurements and Forecasts

Evaluation of the temperature and moisture profile retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder data is performed using two years of collocated global radiosonde measurements, forecast data from the NCEP-AVN and ECMWF, and NOAA-16 operational retrievals.

Rapid transmittance calculations for high resolution sounding instruments

Future satellites will have the higher spectral resolutions required to provide an adequate level of vertical resolution in the soundings they produce, but the high resolution is accompanied by a large number of channels. In order for the data to be used by numerical prediction centers, the number must be reduced while maintaining the information content. This paper presents an approach for reducing the number of channels by averaging similar channels to produce “super channels” with reduced noise. To be useful, the “super channels” must be accompanied by an fast and accurate approximation of the Plank function. Up till now, this has been a limitation in the application of the approach. This paper presents a solution for adjusting the calculation at a single frequency to match the value for an average over a spectral interval. The approach will be applied to AIRS channels and the results will be presented at the meeting.

Applications of eigenvector decomposition of advanced infrared sounder data

Advanced infrared sounders will have thousands of spectral measurements. Eigenvectors of the data are used for data compression and retrievals of geophysical parameters