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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 113, D15S11, doi:10.1029/2007JD008783, 2008

Validation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder temperature and geopotential height measurements

M. J. Schwartz

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


A. Lambert

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


G. L. Manney

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Department of Physics, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, USA


W. G. Read

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


N. J. Livesey

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


L. Froidevaux

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


C. O. Ao

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


P. F. Bernath

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


C. D. Boone

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


R. E. Cofield

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


W. H. Daffer

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


B. J. Drouin

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


E. J. Fetzer

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


R. A. Fuller

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


R. F. Jarnot

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


J. H. Jiang

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


Y. B. Jiang

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


B. W. Knosp

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


K. Krüger

Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany


J.-L. F. Li

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


M. G. Mlynczak

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA


S. Pawson

Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA


J. M. Russell III

Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, USA


M. L. Santee

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


W. V. Snyder

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


P. C. Stek

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


R. P. Thurstans

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


A. M. Tompkins

European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK


P. A. Wagner

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


K. A. Walker

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


J. W. Waters

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


D. L. Wu

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


Abstract

Global satellite observations of temperature and geopotential height (GPH) from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the EOS Aura spacecraft are discussed. The precision, resolution, and accuracy of the data produced by the MLS version 2.2 processing algorithms are quantified, and recommendations for data screening are made. Temperature precision is 1 K or better from 316 hPa to 3.16 hPa, degrading to ∼3 K at 0.001 hPa. The vertical resolution is 3 km at 31.6 hPa, degrading to 6 km at 316 hPa and to ∼13 km at 0.001 hPa. Comparisons with analyses (Goddard Earth Observing System version 5.0.1 (GEOS-5), European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Met Office (MetO)) and other observations (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP), Atmospheric Infrared Sounder/Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit (AIRS/AMSU), Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Radiometry (SABER), Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE), Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE), radiosondes) indicate that MLS temperature has persistent, pressure-dependent biases which are between −2.5 K and +1 K between 316 hPa and 10 hPa. The 100-hPa MLS v2.2 GPH surface has a bias of ∼150 m relative to the GEOS-5 values. These biases are compared to modeled systematic uncertainties. GPH biases relative to correlative measurements generally increase with height owing to an overall cold bias in MLS temperature relative to correlative temperature measurements in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere.

Received 11 April 2007; accepted 27 December 2007; published 2 May 2008.

Keywords: temperature; GPH; MLS.

Index Terms: 0350 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pressure, density, and temperature; 0394 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Instruments and techniques; 3360 Atmospheric Processes: Remote sensing; 3394 Atmospheric Processes: Instruments and techniques; 1694 Global Change: Instruments and techniques.


Read Full Article (file size: 2383108 bytes)    Cited by

Citation: Schwartz, M. J., et al. (2008), Validation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder temperature and geopotential height measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D15S11, doi:10.1029/2007JD008783.