The Retrieval of Atmospheric Profiles from VAS Geostationary Radiance Observations

Abstract

A technique is developed for the retrieval of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) on the geostationary GOES satellites. This method is currently used in daily, quasi-operational processing of the VAS data for experimental usage by the National Weather Service. The algorithm is performed in two steps. First, a fist gum profile is modified by an established iterative solution of the radiative transfer equation. Second, the result of step one provides a profile from which atmospheric structure perturbations are calculated by direct analytical solution. Characteristics of the results achieved from actual VAS radiances are presented.