Identification

Title

MOPITT multispectral CO retrievals: Origins and effects of geophysical radiance errors

Abstract

An obstacle to the simultaneous use of near-infrared (NIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) observations from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument has been a lack of understanding of NIR radiance errors. Retrieval uncertainties produced by optimal estimation-based retrieval algorithms used for satellite instruments like MOPITT are only meaningful if radiance error statistics are accurately quantified in the measurement error covariance matrix. MOPITT's gas correlation radiometers are subject to a unique form of "geophysical noise" due to the combined effects of (1) translational motion of the instrumental field of view during a single observation and (2) fine-scale spatial variability of surface radiative properties. We describe and demonstrate a new method for quantifying this source of error for each observation. Both TIR and NIR radiance errors due to this effect are highly variable, especially over land, but are qualitatively consistent with the variability of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer radiances in similar spectral bands. In addition, retrieval algorithm modifications are described which adjust the trade-off between smoothing error and retrieval noise within the optimal estimation framework. These modifications are necessary to fully exploit the information in MOPITT's NIR channels. A case study based on MOPITT observations over Minnesota demonstrates significant improvement in retrieval performance as the result of the retrieval algorithm modifications.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7028s9d

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2011-08-04T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact