Speaker
Description
We have recently developed an algorithm to retrieve mid-stratospheric and lower mesospheric temperature profiles from the OMPS Limb Profiler (LP) sensor that has been flying on NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite since Oct 2012. The algorithm uses LP measured radiances at 11 wavelengths centered at 350 nm to retrieve atmospheric temperature profiles between 35-65 km at ~2 km vertical resolution with 1 km step. Comparison to other measurements indicates that the profiles have about +/- 2 K accuracy between 35 and 65 km with reduced accuracy above 65km. By vertically integrating the profiles using the hydrostatic equation starting with 35 km pressure from assimilated meteorological data we also obtain accurate pressure and density profiles up to 65 km. These profiles can be used to create a pressure reference for LP O3 measurements. They also remove the need for pairing short UV wavelengths with 350 nm to derive mesospheric ozone profiles from LP and can be used for improving altitude registration of LP. We will discuss these applications in our presentation.
