AIRS

Frequently Asked Questions


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Q.  Regarding the pressure levels for the relative humidity profiles. In V4,
the pressure level was the bottom of the layer for which the RH was
given. Someone mentioned to me today that that may have changed with
version 5.  

A.  The AIRS specific and relative humidity products are still reported at
the level that is the bottom of the layer in which they are defined.

The change is that there is now a pressure array dedicated to the
humidity products. Recall that pressStd defines 28 level, from 0.1 mb
to 1100 mb. The highest levels of the atmosphere hold zilch (great
scientific term) moisture, so it was decided to truncate the moisture
pressure array at 50 mb. Hence there are only 15 pressure levels
(i.e. 14 or less moisture layers, depending upon topography) for
moisture products in V5 rather than 28 (or 27 layers).

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