Validation of temperature measurements from MIPAS-ENVISAT with balloon observations obtained by MIPAS-B

Abstract

The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), a limb sounding Fourier transform interferometer in the mid-infrared band, on board the polar-orbiting ENVIronmental SATellite (ENVISAT) was launched in March 2002 by the European Space Agency (ESA). For the MIPAS data validation, three balloon flights with MIPAS-B, a balloon version of MIPAS, were carried out on the 24th and 25th of September 2002 from Aire sur l'Adour (France 44°N, 0°E), on the 20th and 21th of March, and on the 2nd and 3rd of July 2003 from Esrange, Kiruna (Sweden 68°N, 21°E). The MIPAS operational data version 4.61 for the temperature vertical profiles were compared with the correlative MIPAS-B measurements via the coincident comparison and the trajectory comparison approaches, respectively. The precision of the MIPAS temperature was estimated to be 1.04-2.48. K in the region 123-8. hPa (15-33. km) and beyond the expectation. The systematic difference shows that the absolute accuracy of the MIPAS temperature is within the total combined errors between 356 and 3. hPa (8-39. km). The agreements in the middle stratosphere are better than in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere. The maximum difference of 1.9. K (0.9%) was found at 228. hPa (11. km). The biases of MIPAS measurements are -0.39. K (-0.19%) and +0.25. K (+0.12%) ("+" positive bias, "-" negative bias) corresponding to the altitude regions 143-31. hPa (14-24. km) and 31-5. hPa (24-37. km), respectively. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.