Evaluation of cloudy data as stable references for climate research using AIRS and IRIS data

Hartmut H. Aumann; Yibo Jiang; Denis A. Elliott

doi:10.1117/12.892797

13 September 2011 Evaluation of cloudy data as stable references for climate research using AIRS and IRIS data

Hartmut H. Aumann, Yibo Jiang, Denis A. Elliott

Proceedings Volume 8153, Earth Observing Systems XVI; 815304 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.892797
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We explore the use cloudy data, including Deep Convective Clouds (DCC) in the tropical oceans for the evaluation of the absolute calibration accuracy and stability of infrared radiometers. For the evaluation of cloudy data we use random nadir samples. We illustrate the method with Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) data and data from the Infrared Interferometric Spectrometer (IRIS) in the tropical oceans. AIRS is on the EOS Aqua satellite, which was launched in May 2002 and is expected to continue to produce high quality data until 2015. Two copies of IRIS flew on Nimbus satellites between April 1970 and January 1971. Based on inconsistencies between AIRS and IRIS data, the absolute accuracy of the IRIS data is about 1K, including a significant day/night bias. Part of the observed radiometric bias may have been introduced by quality control, which senses a temperature and spatial uniformity dependent degradation of instrument performance. The observed biases are larger than the 0.5K accuracy claimed in the literature. This absolute calibration uncertainty has to be taken into account in the analysis of changes in the more than 30 year time span between IRIS and AIRS, before they can be attributed to changes in the clouds or the climate. The method described in this paper can be applied retrospectively to any infrared radiometer like HIRS, AVHRR and GOES. It has the capability to exposes instrument artifacts, which are not apparent from the routine quality control of the data.

Citation Download Citation

Hartmut H. Aumann, Yibo Jiang, and Denis A. Elliott "Evaluation of cloudy data as stable references for climate research using AIRS and IRIS data", Proc. SPIE 8153, Earth Observing Systems XVI, 815304 (13 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.892797

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available