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

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Read Full Article (file size: 2383108 bytes) Cited by 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. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

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