High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS), phase 2

Abstract

The High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS) was successfully built, tested, and flight proven on the NASA U-2/ER-2 high altitude aircraft. The HIS demonstration has shown that, by using the technology of Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FTS), it is possible to measure the spectrum of upwelling infrared radiance needed for temperature and humidity sounding with high spectral resolution and high radiometric precision. By resolving individual carbon dioxide lines, the retrieved temperature profiles have vertical resolutions of 1 to 2 km and RMS errors less than 1 C, about 2 to 4 times better than possible with current sounders. Implementing this capability on satellite sounders will greatly enhance the dynamical information content of temperature measurements from space. The aircraft model HIS is now a resource which should be used to support field experiments in mesoscale meteorology, to monitor trace gas concentrations and to better understand their effects on climate, to monitor the surface radiation budget and the radiative effects of clouds, and to collect data for research into retrieval techniques, especially under partially cloudy conditions.