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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, D24S50, doi:10.1029/2007JD008709, 2007

Solar occultation satellite data and derived meteorological products: Sampling issues and comparisons with Aura Microwave Limb Sounder

Gloria L. Manney

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


William H. Daffer

Columbus Technologies and Services Inc., Pasadena, California, USA


Joseph M. Zawodny

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


Peter F. Bernath

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom


Karl W. Hoppel

Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C., USA


Kaley A. Walker

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Brian W. Knosp

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Chris Boone

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada


Ellis E. Remsberg

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


Michelle L. Santee

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


V. Lynn Harvey

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Steven Pawson

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


David R. Jackson

Met Office, Exeter, UK


Lance Deaver

GATS, Inc., Newport News, Virginia, USA


C. Thomas McElroy

Environment Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Chris A. McLinden

Environment Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada


James R. Drummond

Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada


Hugh C. Pumphrey

School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK


Alyn Lambert

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Michael J. Schwartz

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Lucien Froidevaux

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Sean McLeod

Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada


Lawrence L. Takacs

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


Max J. Suarez

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


Charles R. Trepte

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


David C. Cuddy

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Nathaniel J. Livesey

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Robert S. Harwood

Environment Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Joe W. Waters

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA


Abstract

Derived Meteorological Products (DMPs, including potential temperature, potential vorticity (PV), equivalent latitude (EqL), horizontal winds and tropopause locations) from several meteorological analyses have been produced for the locations and times of measurements taken by several solar occultation instruments and the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). MLS and solar occultation data are analyzed using DMPs to illustrate sampling issues that may affect interpretation and comparison of data sets with diverse sampling patterns and to provide guidance regarding the kinds of studies that benefit most from analyzing satellite data in relation to meteorological conditions using the DMPs. Using EqL or PV as a vortex-centered coordinate does not alleviate all sampling problems, including those in studies using “vortex averages” of solar occultation data and in analyses of localized features (such as polar stratospheric clouds) and other fields that do not correlate well with PV. Using DMPs to view measurements with respect to their air mass characteristics is particularly valuable in studies of transport of long-lived trace gases, polar processing in the winter lower stratosphere, and distributions and transport of O3 and other trace gases from the upper troposphere through the lower stratosphere. The comparisons shown here demonstrate good agreement between MLS and solar occultation data for O3, N2O, H2O, HNO3, and HCl; small biases are attributable to sampling effects or are consistent with detailed validation results presented elsewhere in this special section. The DMPs are valuable for many scientific studies and to facilitate validation of noncoincident measurements.

Received 27 March 2007; accepted 5 November 2007; published 25 December 2007.

Keywords: satellite data; stratospheric dynamics.

Index Terms: 0341 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: constituent transport and chemistry (3334); 0340 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry; 3334 Atmospheric Processes: Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342); 3360 Atmospheric Processes: Remote sensing.


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Citation: Manney, G. L., et al. (2007), Solar occultation satellite data and derived meteorological products: Sampling issues and comparisons with Aura Microwave Limb Sounder, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D24S50, doi:10.1029/2007JD008709.