Early validation analyses of atmospheric profiles from EOS MLS on the Aura satellite

L Froidevaux, N J Livesey, W G Read, Y B B Jiang, C Jimenez, M J Filipiak, M J Schwartz, M L Santee, H C Pumphrey, J H Jiang, D L Wu, G L Manney, B J Drouin, J W Waters, E J Fetzer, P F Bernath, C D Boone, K A Walker, K W Jucks, G C ToonJ J Margitan, B Sen, C R Webster, L E Christensen, J W Elkins, E Atlas, R A Lueb, R Hendershot

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present results of early validation studies using retrieved atmospheric profiles from the Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument on the Aura satellite. "Global" results are presented for MLS measurements of atmospheric temperature, ozone, water vapor, hydrogen chloride, nitrous oxide, nitric acid, and carbon monoxide, with a focus on the January-March 2005 time period. These global comparisons are made using long-standing global satellites and meteorological datasets, as well as some measurements from more recently launched satellites. Comparisons of MLS data with measurements from the Ft. Sumner, NM, September 2004 balloon flights are also presented. Overall, good agreement is obtained, often within 5% to 10%, but we point out certain issues to resolve and some larger systematic differences; some artifacts in the first publicly released MLS (version 1.5) dataset are noted. We comment briefly on future plans for validation and software improvements.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1106-1121
Number of pages16
JournalIEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING
Volume44
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2006

Keywords

  • atmospheric retrievals
  • data validation
  • HALOGEN OCCULTATION EXPERIMENT
  • DATA SET
  • SPECTROMETER
  • AIRS/AMSU/HSB
  • BALLOON
  • SYSTEM

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