Some aspects of AIRS sounding retrieval and their impact on IMAPP products

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard Aqua satellite provides a wealth of highly accurate atmospheric and surface information using 2378 high-spectral-resolution infrared channels. As a part of International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP) an algorithm has been developed at Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) to retrieve atmospheric and surface parameters from AIRS-L1B radiances measurements. In this study we present some aspects of the AIRS sounding retrieval, such as retrieval sensitivity to spectral surface emissivity estimation, training data classification (global versus regional training dataset), sunglint/solar-reflection effect etc. We also present some interesting features in AIRS observed radiance spectrum that might help in identifying the regions of boundary-layer temperature inversion.