Two-year comparison of radiances from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)
Loading...
Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2009-08-12
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Denis A. Elliott, Hartmut H. Aumann, L. Larrabee Strow, Scott E. Hannon, "Two-year comparison of radiances from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)", Proc. SPIE 7456, Atmospheric and Environmental Remote Sensing Data Processing and Utilization V: Readiness for GEOSS III, 74560S (12 August 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.826996
Rights
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Copyright 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.
Copyright 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.
Abstract
The radiometric intercomparison of instruments is a key element in developing climate-quality data records. In this study we compare data from the first two years of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) with the matching data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). We compare observed spectra in cloud-free areas of the tropical oceans at night to spectra calculated using data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). We use five frequencies-three window channels, one mid-tropospheric sounding channel, and one lower stratospheric sounding channel. The use of ECMWF data as a transfer standard permits comparisons of many more points distributed more widely over the globe than is possible with the traditional simultaneous nadir overpass (SNO) technique. The analysis shows that AIRS and IASI daily mean brightness temperatures track each other within 100 mK, in spite of the fact that the instruments are in different orbits. AIRS was launched into polar orbit on the EOS Aqua spacecraft on May 4, 2002. It is a grating spectrometer with 2378 channels in the range 3.7 to 15.4 microns. IASI was launched into polar orbit in October 2006 on the METOP-A spacecraft. IASI is a Fourier transform spectrometer covering 3.7 to 15.5 microns in three bands with a total of 8461 channels.