Identification

Title

Validation of the global distribution of CO₂ volume mixing ratio in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere from SABER

Abstract

The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on board the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite has been measuring the limb radiance in 10 broadband infrared channels over the altitude range from ~ 400 km to the Earth's surface since 2002. The kinetic temperatures and CO₂ volume mixing ratios (VMRs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been simultaneously retrieved using SABER limb radiances at 15 and 4.3 µm under nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) conditions. This paper presents results of a validation study of the SABER CO₂ VMRs obtained with a two-channel, self-consistent temperature/CO₂ retrieval algorithm. Results are based on comparisons with coincident CO₂ measurements made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and simulations using the Specified Dynamics version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (SD-WACCM). The SABER CO₂ VMRs are in agreement with ACE-FTS observations within reported systematic uncertainties from 65 to 110 km. The annual average SABER CO₂ VMR falls off from a well-mixed value above ~80 km. Latitudinal and seasonal variations of CO₂ VMRs are substantial. SABER observations and the SD-WACCM simulations are in overall agreement for CO₂ seasonal variations, as well as global distributions in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Not surprisingly, the CO₂ seasonal variation is shown to be driven by the general circulation, converging in the summer polar mesopause region and diverging in the winter polar mesopause region.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7dz09r3

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

2015-12-15T00:00:00Z

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