Abstract

Accurate knowledge of the Earth's vertical atmospheric temperature structure is fundamental to numerical weather prediction. The National Weather Services (NWS) have stated an ultimate goal for temperature sounding of 1 degree accuracy and 1 km vertical resolution throughout the troposphere. To approach this goal next generation temperature sounders must have increased spectral coverage and increased spectral resolution. Extensive simulations indicate that a temperature sounder with spectral resolving power (λ/Δλ) of 1200 and wavelength coverage from 3.4 - 17 μm will significantly improve the rms temperature retrieval accuracy. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) for the Earth Observing System (Eos) has been designed to meet these requirements.

© 1990 Optical Society of America