AIRS, IASI, and CrIS Retrieval Records at Climate Scales: An Investigation into the Propagation of Systematic Uncertainty

AbstractUncertainty requirements for climate observations are more stringent than for weather observations because of the scale dependency of natural variation. At present there is no space-based climate observing system, so weather observations have to be aggregated for the study of large-scale change. The management and minimization of uncertainty sources in weather observations are, therefore, a high priority. This work is a first attempt at investigating if a single long-term record can be assembled with temperature retrievals from three hyperspectral satellite sounders in polar orbit: the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on Aqua in afternoon orbit since 2002, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on MetOp-A in morning orbit since 2006, and the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) on board the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership in afternoon orbit since 2011. These instruments measure not only the vertical atmospheric structure but also atmospheric composition, thus providing...