On the Resolution of Temperature Profile Finestructure by the NOAA Satellite Vertical Temperature Profile Radiometer

Abstract

Preliminary results of a study to assess the vertical resolving power of NOAA satellite VTPR radiation measurements used to estimate temperature profiles are presented. A brief analysis of the trade-off between vertical resolution and noise effects is given, patterned after the approach of Backus and Gilbert and of Conrath. Also given are results of a more direct assessment of the resolution of fine-scale structure in the temperature profile carried out in a computer simulation study. The simulation scheme allows the direct examination of the mapping of well-defined flnestructure in the temperature profile into the retrieved estimates of that finestructure. The results indicate that temperature anomalies are drastically smoothed and spread over deep layers by the radiative transfer integral and the temperature retrieval algorithm. Simulation results are presented for a minimum information retrieval scheme and a scheme designed to optimize vertical resolving power, and both are compared with the theoretical measures of resolution.