Apr 3, 2024 – Data Product Release for AIRS Level 2 Joint Single Footprint Retrieval Algorithm (JoSFRA)
The NASA Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Project and the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) are pleased to announce the release of the Joint Single Footprint Retrieval Algorithm (JoSFRA) Level-2 data product. The product is derived from infrared spectra obtained by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on the Aqua satellite.
The JoSFRA algorithm uses an optimal estimation scheme, and retrieves geophysical variables from AIRS spectra at their native horizontal resolution of 13.5 km at nadir. Collocated MODIS observations are used in the forward model to provide a first estimate for cloud properties. The greater spatial resolution, along with information content quantification, makes JoSFRA retrievals well-suited for studies of storms and convective processes. The JoSFRA Level-2 retrieval product includes atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles, surface temperature, cloud-top temperature/pressure, effective cloud optical depth, and effective cloud particle radius, along with metadata. The JoSFRA horizontal resolution of ∼13.5 km at nadir is three times finer than prior versions of the AIRS retrievals. AIRS provides near-global coverage twice daily (nominally around 1:30 am and pm local time at the equator) since mission launch in 2002. For the initial release of Version 2 JoSFRA, a limited test data set is provided.
For further details and links to the datasets, please see the data release announcement on the GES DISC website.
Apr 1, 2024 – AIRS/Sounder Science Team Meeting, Fall 2024
The AIRS/Sounder Science Team Meeting (hybrid) will take place in the Pasadena area during the week of September 23-27, 2024.
Feb 28, 2023 – AIRS/Sounder Science Team Meeting, Fall 2023
A joint AIRS/Sounder Science Team Meeting is being planned in the week of Oct 2-6, 2023, in the DC area. Please see the meeting page for more details.
May 12, 2023 – Data Product Release: Spatial Statistical Data Fusion CONUS Vapor Pressure Deficit Version 2 Level 3
The AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) Science Team and NASA GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center) have released Version 2 Level 3 Spatial Statistical Data Fusion (SSDF) Contiguous United States (CONUS) Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) data products. VPD is the difference between the saturation vapor pressure and the actual vapor pressure. VPD information is frequently used in drought, fire, and agriculture applications.
The SSDF VPD products combine data over CONUS obtained from AIRS on the Aqua satellite platform, and the Cross-track Infrared Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS), on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) platform, also utilizing data from in situ weather stations. A second product using AIRS retrievals alone, and with biases adjusted with in-situ observations, is also available in order to provide a longer data record. The SSDF products are generated twice-daily on a 0.25° spatial grid. Advantages over the input remote sensing products include gap-filling, reduced bias and variance, improved uncertainty estimates and improved long-term bias stationarity.
For further details and links to the datasets please see the data release announcement on the GES DISC website.
Oct 20, 2022 – Call for Papers for "Twenty Years of Observations from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder" – Extended Deadline
Please see the AGU publications website. Scroll down to find the Call for Papers for “Twenty Years of Observations from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder”. The deadline has been extended to 28 February 2023.
Submission Open: 1 October 2021
Submission Deadline: 28 February 2023
Special Collection Organizers:
Eric Fetzer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Qing Yue, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Xianglei Huang, University of Michigan
Brian Kahn, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Evan Fishbein, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument launched on the NASA Aqua spacecraft on May 4, 2002 and became fully operational on August 30, 2002. AIRS is the first in a series of modern hyperspectral infrared sounders, observing upwelling infrared spectra in over 2300 channels, with twice daily, near-global coverage. Spectra from AIRS and companion microwave instruments are processed to retrieve surface conditions and atmospheric state variables including profiles of temperature and water vapor, trace gas amounts, and cloud top properties. Over its twenty-year lifetime AIRS has observed about 20 billion spectra and obtained about 2 billion retrievals. This special collection celebrates twenty years of AIRS operations. We invite papers describing all aspects of the AIRS mission, including instrument operations and calibration, data processing algorithms, model assimilation of AIRS observations, weather and climate model assessment with AIRS, intercomparison with other instruments, studies of atmospheric composition, weather, and climate, and societal applications.
To submit your manuscript, use the submission portals for JGR-Atmospheres, GRL or ESS and select the collection’s title from the drop down menu in the Special Section field of the submission form.
June 27, 2022 – Data Product Release: Spatial Statistical Data Fusion Version 2 Level 3 Near-Surface Air Temperature
The AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) Science Team and NASA GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center) have released the spatial statistical data fusion (SSDF) near-surface air temperature (NSAT) product, created by fusing Level 2 NSAT from AIRS and SNPP-CLIMCAPS1 and utilizing data from in situ weather stations. The SSDF product has improved bias, variance, and uncertainty estimates relative to the input remote sensing products. NSAT is an essential climate variable for application areas such as urban heat and wildfire.
For further details and links to the datasets please see the data release announcement on the GES DISC website.
1 SNPP: Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. CLIMCAPS: Community Long-term Infrared Microwave Combined Atmospheric Processing System.
August 13, 2021 – Data release: Climate Hyperspectral Infrared Radiance Product (CHIRP) Level 1 products
The CHIRP algorithm converts radiances to a common spectral and radiometric calibration derived from infrared sounders aboard three Earth Observing System (EOS) polar-orbiting satellite platforms: AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) on Aqua; CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder) instrument on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) platform; and CrIS on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA-20 platform (also known as, Joint Polar Satellite System, JPSS-1).
Details are provided in the CHRP Data Release Announcement at NASA Goddard's Data and Information Services Center.
June 11, 2021 – CLIMCAPS V2 AIRS Data Release
On behalf of the AIRS project, the Sounder Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (Sounder SIPS), and the AIRS and Sounder Science Teams, we would like to announce the public release of data from the Community Long-term Infrared Microwave Coupled Atmospheric Product System (CLIMCAPS) retrieval algorithm that utilizes radiances from all US sounders on Aqua, SNPP, and JPSS-1/NOAA-20, for the full duration of these missions. CLIMCAPS addresses critical needs of the climate, weather and composition science communities for data products that are consistent across platforms in order to guarantee long-term data continuity.
For more information and details, please check the AIRS website:
https://airs.jpl.nasa.gov
https://airs.jpl.nasa.gov/data/about-the-data/processing/
And the following GES DISC pages:
CLIMCAPS-Aqua Level 2
CLIMCAPS Level 3 (Aqua, S-NPP, NOAA-20/JPSS-1)
Sincerely,
Joao Teixeira
Chris Barnet
Ruth Monarrez
Tom Pagano
Eric Fetzer
June 20, 2020 – Aqua AIRS Version 7 data now available
The AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) Science Team and the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) are pleased to announce the release of AIRS Version 7 Level 2 and Level 3 data products.
The Version 7 data represent a significant improvement over AIRS Version 6 Level 2 products, especially with the AIRS "IR only" product. Several algorithmic improvements have been made by the AIRS Project and the AIRS Science Team.
More about the Version 7 release can be found on the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center web site.
