A global database of infrared (IR) land surface emissivity is introduced to support more accurate retrievals of atmospheric properties such as temperature and moisture profiles from multispectral satellite radiance measurements. Emissivity is derived using input from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) operational land surface emissivity product (MOD11). The baseline fit method, based on a conceptual model developed from laboratory measurements of surface emissivity, is applied to fill in the spectral gaps between the six emissivity wavelengths available in MOD11. The six available MOD11 wavelengths span only three spectral regions (3.8-4, 8.6, and 11-12 m), while the retrievals of atmospheric temperature and moisture from satellite IR sounder radiances require surface emissivity at higher spectral resolution. Emissivity in the database presented here is available globally at 10 wavelengths (3.6, 4.3, 5.0, 5.8, 7.6, 8.3, 9.3, 10.8, 12.1, and 14.3 m) with 0.05°spatial resolution. The wavelengths in the database were chosen as hinge points to capture as much of the shape of the higher-resolution emissivity spectra as possible between 3.6 and 14.3 m. The surface emissivity from this database is applied to the IR regression retrieval of atmospheric moisture profiles using radiances from MODIS, and improvement is shown over retrievals made with the typical assumption of constant emissivity.

A fast physically based dual-regression (DR) method is developed to produce, in real time, accurate profile and surface- and cloud-property retrievals from satellite ultraspectral radiances observed for both clear- and cloudy-sky conditions. The DR relies on using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) regression “clear trained” and “cloud trained” retrievals of surface skin temperature, surface-emissivity EOF coefficients, carbon dioxide concentration, cloud-top altitude, effective cloud optical depth, and atmospheric temperature, moisture, and ozone profiles above the cloud and below thin or broken cloud. The cloud-trained retrieval is obtained using cloud-height-classified statistical datasets. The result is a retrieval with an accuracy that is much higher than that associated with the retrieval produced by the unclassified regression method currently used in the International Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (MODIS/AIRS) Processing Package (IMAPP) retrieval system. The improvement results from the fact that the nonlinear dependence of spectral radiance on the atmospheric variables, which is due to cloud altitude and associated atmospheric moisture concentration variations, is minimized as a result of the cloud-height-classification process. The detailed method and results from example applications of the DR retrieval algorithm are presented. The new DR method will be used to retrieve atmospheric profiles from Aqua AIRS, MetOp Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer, and the forthcoming Joint Polar Satellite System ultraspectral radiance data.

Abstract. The Global Energy and Water cycle Exchanges (GEWEX) Data and Assessments Panel (GDAP) initiated the GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment (G-VAP), which has the main objectives to quantify the current state of the art in water vapour products being constructed for climate applications and to support the selection process of suitable water vapour products by GDAP for its production of globally consistent water and energy cycle products. During the construction of the G-VAP data archive, freely available and mature satellite and reanalysis data records with a minimum temporal coverage of 10 years were considered. The archive contains total column water vapour (TCWV) as well as specific humidity and temperature at four pressure levels (1000, 700, 500, 300 hPa) from 22 different data records. All data records were remapped to a regular longitudelatitude grid of 2 period 1988-2009. The G-VAP data archive is referenced under the following digital object identifier (doi): https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/GVAP/V001. Within G-VAP, the characterization of water vapour products is, among other ways, achieved through intercomparisons of the considered data records, as a whole and grouped into three classes of predominant retrieval condition: clear-sky, cloudy-sky and all-sky. Associated results are shown using the 22 TCWV data records. The standard deviations among the 22 TCWV data records have been analysed and exhibit distinct maxima over central Africa and the tropical warm pool (in absolute terms) as well as over the poles and mountain regions (in relative terms). The variability in TCWV within each class can be large and prohibits conclusions about systematic differences in TCWV between the classes.

The problem of diurnal variation in surface emissivity over the Sahara Desert during non-raining days is studied and assessed with observations from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI). The analysis has been performed over a Sahara Desert dune target area during July 2010. Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager observations from the European geostationary platform Meteosat-9 (Meteorological Satellite 9) have been also used to characterize the target area. Although the amplitude of this daily cycle has been shown to be very small, we argue that suitable nighttime meteorological conditions and the strong contrast of the reststrahlen absorption bands of quartz (8–14 μ m) can amplify its effect over the surface spectral emissivity. The retrieval of atmospheric parameters show that at nighttime an atmospheric temperature inversion occurs close to the surface yielding a thin boundary layer which acts like a lid, keeping normal convective overturning of the atmosphere from penetrating through the inversion. This mechanism traps water vapour close to the land and drives the direct adsorption of water vapour at the surface during the night. The diurnal variation in emissivity at 8.7 μ m has been found to be as large as 0.03 with high values at night and low values during the day. At 10.8 μ m and 12 μ m the variation has the same sign as that at 8.7 μ m, but with a smaller amplitude, 0.019 and 0.014, respectively. The impact of these diurnal variations on the retrieval of surface temperature and atmospheric parameters has been analyzed

In this paper we compare AATS-14 water vapor retrievals during aircraft vertical profiles with measurements by an onboard Vaisala HMP243 humidity sensor and by ship radiosondes and with water vapor profiles retrieved from AIRS measurements during eight Aqua overpasses. We also compare AATS CWV and MODIS infrared CWV retrievals during five Aqua and five Terra overpasses. For 35 J31 vertical profiles, mean (bias) and RMS AATS-minus-Vaisala layer-integrated water vapor (LWV) differences are À7.1% and 8.8%, respectively. For 22 aircraft profiles within 1 hour and 130 km of radiosonde soundings, AATS-minus-sonde bias and RMS LWV differences are À5.4% and 10.7%, respectively, and corresponding J31 Vaisala-minus-sonde differences are 2.3% and 8.4%, respectively. AIRS LWV retrievals within 80 km of J31 profiles yield lower bias and RMS differences compared to AATS or Vaisala retrievals than do AIRS retrievals within 150 km of the J31. In particular, for AIRS-minus-AATS LWV differences, the bias decreases from 8.8% to 5.8%, and the RMS difference decreases from 21.5% to 16.4%. Comparison of vertically resolved AIRS water vapor retrievals (LWV A ) to AATS values in fixed pressure layers yields biases of À2% to +6% and RMS differences of $20% below 700 hPa. Variability and magnitude of these differences increase significantly above 700 hPa. MODIS IR retrievals of CWV in 205 grid cells (5 Â 5 km at nadir) are biased wet by 10.4% compared to AATS over-ocean near-surface retrievals. The MODIS-Aqua subset (79 grid cells) exhibits a wet bias of 5.1%, and the MODIS-Terra subset (126 grid cells) yields a wet bias of 13.2%.

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The RTTOV narrowband black-sky albedo is retrieved within ±0.01 in absolute accuracy at 0.6 and 1.6 μm and is overestimated by something between 0.01 and 0.03 at 0.8 μm. The temporal variation of the RTTOV broadband black-sky albedo is consistent with the EUMETSAT Land-SAF SEVIRI products but overestimated by somewhere between 0.01 and 0.02 when considering the best quality index of the RTTOV BRDF atlas. Less agreement is found in two cases: (i) for extreme geometrical conditions when the satellite zenith angle is greater than 65• and (ii) for lower quality indices of the RTTOV BRDF atlas.

This paper presents the cloud-parameter data records derived from High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) measurements from 1980 through 2015 on the NOAA and MetOp polar-orbiting platforms. Over this time period, the HIRS sensor has been flown on 16 satellites from TIROS-N through NOAA-19 and MetOp-A and MetOp-B, forming a 35-yr cloud data record. Intercalibration of the Infrared Advanced Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and HIRS on MetOp-A has created confidence in the onboard calibration of this HIRS as a reference for others. A recent effort to improve the understanding of IR-channel response functions of earlier HIRS sensor radiance measurements using simultaneous nadir overpasses has produced a more consistent sensor-to-sensor calibration record. Incorporation of a cloud mask from the higher-spatial-resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) improves the subpixel cloud detection within the HIRS measurements. Cloud-top pressure and effective emissivity (εf, or cloud emissivity multiplied by cloud fraction) are derived using the 15-μm spectral bands in the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption band and implementing the CO2-slicing technique; the approach is robust for high semitransparent clouds but weak for low clouds with little thermal contrast from clear-sky radiances. This paper documents the effort to incorporate the recalibration of the HIRS sensors, notes the improvements to the cloud algorithm, and presents the HIRS cloud data record from 1980 to 2015. The reprocessed HIRS cloud data record reports clouds in 76.5% of the observations, and 36.1% of the observations find high clouds.