The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the NASA Aqua Spacecraft: a general remote sensing tool for understanding atmospheric structure, dynamics, and composition

Thomas S. Pagano; Moustafa T. Chahine; Eric J. Fetzer

doi:10.1117/12.865335

11 October 2010 The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the NASA Aqua Spacecraft: a general remote sensing tool for understanding atmospheric structure, dynamics, and composition

Thomas S. Pagano, Moustafa T. Chahine, Eric J. Fetzer

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7827, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XV; 78270B (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.865335
Event: SPIE Remote Sensing, 2010, Toulouse, France

Abstract

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua Spacecraft was launched on May 4, 2002. Early in the mission, the AIRS instrument demonstrated its value to the weather forecasting community with better than 6 hours of improvement on the 5 day forecast. Now with over eight years of consistent and stable data from AIRS, scientists are able to examine processes governing weather and climate and look at seasonal and interannual trends from the AIRS data with high statistical confidence. Naturally, long-term climate trends require a longer data set, but indications are that the Aqua spacecraft and the AIRS instrument should last beyond 2018. This paper briefly describes the AIRS data products and presents some of the most significant findings involving the use of AIRS data in the areas of weather forecast improvement, climate processes and model validation, cloud and polar processes, and atmospheric composition (chemistry and dust).

Citation Download Citation

Thomas S. Pagano, Moustafa T. Chahine, and Eric J. Fetzer "The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the NASA Aqua Spacecraft: a general remote sensing tool for understanding atmospheric structure, dynamics, and composition", Proc. SPIE 7827, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XV, 78270B (11 October 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.865335

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