Evaluation of tropospheric water vapour and temperature profiles retrieved from Metop-A by the Infrared and Microwave Sounding scheme

Abstract

Abstract. Since 2007, the Meteorological Operational satellite (Metop) series of platforms operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) have provided valuable observations of the Earth's surface and atmosphere for meteorological and climate applications. With 15 years of data already collected, the next generation of Metop satellites will see this measurement record extend to and beyond 2045. With a primary role in operational meteorology, tropospheric temperature and water vapour profiles will be key data products produced using infrared and microwave-sounding instruments onboard. Considering the Metop data record that will span 40 years, these profiles will form an essential climate data record (CDR) for studying long-term atmospheric changes. Therefore, the performance of these products must be characterised to support the robustness of any current or future analysis. In this study, we validate 9.5 years of profile data produced using the Infrared and Microwave Sounding (IMS) scheme with the European Space Agency (ESA) Water Vapour Climate Change Initiative (WV_cci) against radiosondes from two different archives. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) and Analysed RadioSoundings Archive (ARSA) data records were chosen for the validation exercise to provide the contrast between global observations (ARSA) with sparser characterised climate measurements (GRUAN). Results from this study show that IMS temperature and water vapour profile biases are within 1 K and 10 % of the reference for 'global' scales. We further demonstrate the difference day/night and cloud amount match-ups have on observed biases and discuss the implications sampling also plays on attributing these effects. Finally, we present a first look at the profile bias stability of the IMS product, relating trends in the bias to required climate performance. Overall, we find the results from this study demonstrate the real potential for tropospheric water vapour and temperature profile CDRs from the Metop series of platforms.