AIRS

Frequently Asked Questions


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Q.  The HSB data is not available since 2003 and there are L2 retreivals
that are processed without HSB. I notice that HSB was used in conjuction
with AMSU-A for the retrival of the first-guess moisture profile. I
wonder what sort of modification in the retrival algorithm was
undertaken after the loss of HSB?  

A.  The HSB scan motor failed on Feb 5, 2003. Despite many attempted
work-arounds, we were not able to resuscitate the instrument.

Thus, we create two collections of data products up to Feb 5, 2003.
One collection incorporates HSB data in the retrievals and one does
not. The second collection continues on from that date to the current
date. Both are avalable at the GES DISC.

The loss of HSB crippled our research water vapor products, such as
rain rate. We also lost the possiblity of higher spatial resolution
WV products (AMSU footprint is 50km at nadir; HSB footprint is 15km at
nadir). The WV core product (burden and profile) has suffered only
very minor degradation.

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