Reprocessing of HIRS Satellite Measurements from 1980 to 2015: Development toward a Consistent Decadal Cloud Record

Abstract

his paper presents the cloud-parameter data records derived from High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) measurements from 1980 through 2015 on the NOAA and MetOp polar-orbiting platforms. Over this time period, the HIRS sensor has been flown on 16 satellites from TIROS-N through NOAA-19 and MetOp-A and MetOp-B, forming a 35-yr cloud data record. Intercalibration of the Infrared Advanced Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and HIRS on MetOp-A has created confidence in the onboard calibration of this HIRS as a reference for others. A recent effort to improve the understanding of IR-channel response functions of earlier HIRS sensor radiance measurements using simultaneous nadir overpasses has produced a more consistent sensor-to-sensor calibration record. Incorporation of a cloud mask from the higher-spatial-resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) improves the subpixel cloud detection within the HIRS measurements. Cloud-top pressure and effective emissivity (εf, or cloud emissivity multiplied by cloud fraction) are derived using the 15-?m spectral bands in the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption band and implementing the CO2-slicing technique; the approach is robust for high semitransparent clouds but weak for low clouds with little thermal contrast from clear-sky radiances. This paper documents the effort to incorporate the recalibration of the HIRS sensors, notes the improvements to the cloud algorithm, and presents the HIRS cloud data record from 1980 to 2015. The reprocessed HIRS cloud data record reports clouds in 76.5% of the observations, and 36.1% of the observations find high clouds.