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www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/2/489/2009/
doi:10.5194/amtd-2-489-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Validation of water vapour profiles (version 13) retrieved by the IMK/IAA scientific retrieval processor based on full resolution spectra measured by MIPAS on board Envisat
1Luleå Technical University, Dept. of Space Science, Kiruna, Sweden
2Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and Universität Karlsruhe, Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung, Karlsruhe, Germany
3Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, UK
4Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
5Institute of Applied Physics, Atmospheric Physics Group, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
6Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
7Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, Granada, Spain
8Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), UVSQ, CNRS, Verrières-le-Buisson, France
9National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Tsukuba, Japan
10Science Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
11Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
12Cooperative Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
13Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
14Central Aerological Observatory, Dolgoprudny, Russia
15Department of Physics, Hampton University, Hampton, USA
*now at: METEOTEST, Bern, Switzerland
**now at: Deutscher Wetterdienst, Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg, Lindenberg, Germany
***now at: Dept. of Physics and Information Engineering, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
Abstract. Vertical profiles of stratospheric water vapour measured by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) between September 2002 and March 2004 and retrieved with the IMK/IAA scientific retrieval processor were compared to a number of independent measurements in order to estimate the bias and to validate the existing precision estimates of the MIPAS data. The independent instruments were: the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE), the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS), the Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer-II (ILAS-II), the Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM III) instrument, the Middle Atmospheric Water Vapour Radiometer (MIAWARA), the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding, balloon-borne version (MIPAS-B), the Airborne Microwave Stratospheric Observing System (AMSOS), the Fluorescent Stratospheric Hygrometer for Balloon (FLASH-B), the NOAA frostpoint hygrometer, and the Fast In Situ Hygrometer (FISH). In the stratosphere there is no clear indication of a bias in MIPAS data, because the independent measurements in some cases are drier and in some cases are moister than the MIPAS measurements. Compared to the infrared measurements of MIPAS, measurements in the ultraviolet and visible have a tendency to be high, whereas microwave measurements have a tendency to be low. The results of χ2-based precision validation are somewhat controversial among the comparison estimates. However, for comparison instruments whose error budget also includes errors due to uncertainties in spectrally interfering species and where good coincidences were found, the χ2 values found are in the expected range or even below. This suggests that there is no evidence of systematically underestimated MIPAS random errors.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 1445 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 8 Comments) Final Revised Paper (AMT)
Citation: Milz, M., Clarmann, T. v., Bernath, P., Boone, C., Buehler, S. A., Chauhan, S., Deuber, B., Feist, D. G., Funke, B., Glatthor, N., Grabowski, U., Griesfeller, A., Haefele, A., Höpfner, M., Kämpfer, N., Kellmann, S., Linden, A., Müller, S., Nakajima, H., Oelhaf, H., Remsberg, E., Rohs, S., Russell III, J. M., Schiller, C., Stiller, G. P., Sugita, T., Tanaka, T., Vömel, H., Walker, K., Wetzel, G., Yokota, T., Yushkov, V., and Zhang, G.: Validation of water vapour profiles (version 13) retrieved by the IMK/IAA scientific retrieval processor based on full resolution spectra measured by MIPAS on board Envisat, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 2, 489-559, doi:10.5194/amtd-2-489-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
