Extended Abstract (72K)P5.38
Retrieval of atmospheric inversions using geostationary high-spectral-resolution sounder radiance information
Jun Li, CIMSS/Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; and T. J. Schmit, H. L. Huang, and H. M. Woolf
The era of high-spectral-resolution radiance measurements from the geostationary perspective is approaching. The first instrument to usher in this new era is the experimental Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS), which is to be followed by an operational Advanced Sounder. The advanced sounders will have thousands of channels with widths on the order of single wavenumbers, while the current GOES Sounder has only 18 bands with widths on the order of tens of wavenumbers. High-spectral-resolution sounder measurements from geostationary orbit will allow for monitoring the evolution of temperature and moisture inversions in clear skies. The current GOES sounder radiance measurements are, in general, not able to depict atmospheric inversion structure because of their lower spectral-resolution. Being able to characterize inversions is important for many reasons, including the detection of severe weather potential and possible fog formation, numerical model initialization, and sounding retrieval. High-spectral-resolution sounder radiances, as well as current GOES sounder radiances, will be simulated, with instrument noise included, for a number of radiosonde profiles with varying inversion strengths. A physical retrieval algorithm will be employed to retrieve temperature and moisture profiles with both sounders. The retrievals will be compared to the true profiles that were used to create the radiances in order to determine the strength of an inversion that can be retrieved from both current and the next-generation geostationary radiances.
Poster Session 5, New Technology and Methods (Continued)
Thursday, 18 October 2001, 9:15 AM-11:00 AM
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