Validation Study of the MOPITT Retrieval Algorithm: Carbon Monoxide Retrieval from IMG Observations during WINCE

Abstract

The Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument is an eight-channel gas correlation radiometer selected for the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra spacecraft launched in December 1999. Algorithms for the retrieval of tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) profiles from MOPITT measurements have been developed. In this paper, validation studies of the MOPITT CO retrieval algorithm using observations by the Interferometric Monitor for greenhouse Gases (IMG) during the Winter Clouds Experiment (WINCE) conducted from 23 January to 13 February 1997 are described. Synthetic radiance spectra calculated by a line-by-line radiative transfer model, FASCOD3, using the retrieved CO profile agrees well with IMG-measured radiance spectra. Observations by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (MAS) from the NASA ER-2 platform during WINCE were successfully used to assist in the identification of clear and cloudy IMG observations.