Retrieval of water vapour in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere from mipas envisat limb emission spectra

• Global Measurements of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) are required to assess its influence on the radiation budget of the Earth and for its use as a suitable tracer for the study of troposphere-stratosphere exchange processes(STE). MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) is a Fourier transform spectrometer measuring limb emission spectra. The field of view of the satellite-borne MIPAS/Envisat is rather wide compared to horizontal and vertical structures in real water vapor distributions (e.g. hygropause). Our aim is to derive UT/LS water vapor profiles from MIPAS/Envisat data with optimized spatial resolution and accuracy. The retrieval errors and vertical resolution were assessed in an altitude- range 5 - 25 km with respect to a MIPAS standard observation scenario and the retrieval of the water vapor profile to be performed on the measurement grid. As target parameters we used water vapor and continuum in the first case and water vapor, temperature and continuum in the second scenario. Improvements by joint retrieval of water vapor and temperature are investigated, in particular for saturated H2O- signatures originating fromthe troposphere. The vertical resolution was estimated by the use of so-called averaging kernels. 

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Rymd- och flygteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Aerospace Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Space Technology

Rymdteknik

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