AIRS

The paper titled "AIRS: Improving Weather Forecasting and Providing New Data on Greenhouse Gases", which describes the AIRS data, how it has improved forecast skill, and how it's being used in research, was published in the July issue of BAMS, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

The cover image shows an AIRS snapshot of water vapor as a storm approaches the California coast on January 1, 2003. A broad minimum over the deserts of Baja California separates moist areas in the temperate north and tropical south. Blue denotes low water vapor content; green medium and red areas signify high water vapor content. The vertical grid ranges from 250 millibar pressure at the top to 1000 millibar pressure at the bottom.

This image is one frame of an animation created by the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

AIRS on the cover of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Abstract for "AIRS: Improving Weather Forecasting and Providing New Data on Greenhouse Gases":

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and its two companion microwave sounders, AMSU and HSB were launched into polar orbit onboard the NASA Aqua Satellite in May 2002. NASA required the sounding system to provide high-quality research data for climate studies and to meet NOAA's requirements for improving operational weather forecasting. The NOAA requirement translated into global retrieval of temperature and humidity profiles with accuracies approaching those of radiosondes. AIRS also provides new measurements of several greenhouse gases, such as CO2, CO, CH4, O3, SO2, and aerosols.

The assimilation of AIRS data into operational weather forecasting has already demonstrated significant improvements in global forecast skill. At NOAA/NCEP, the improvement in the forecast skill achieved at 6 days is equivalent to gaining an extension of forecast capability of six hours. This improvement is quite significant when compared to other forecast improvements over the last decade. In addition to NCEP, ECMWF and the Met Office have also reported positive forecast impacts due AIRS.

AIRS is a hyperspectral sounder with 2,378 infrared channels between 3.7 and 15.4 um. NOAA/NESDIS routinely distributes AIRS data within 3 hours to NWP centers around the world. The AIRS design represents a breakthrough in infrared space instrumentation with measurement stability and accuracies far surpassing any current research or operational sounder. The results we describe in this paper are work in progress, and although significant accomplishments have already been made much more work remains in order to realize the full potential of this suite of instruments.