Description
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The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a hyperspectral infrared instrument on the EOS Aqua Spacecraft, launched on May 4, 2002. AIRS has 2378 infrared channels ranging from 3.7 μm to 15.4 μm and a 13.5 km footprint. AIRS, in conjunction with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), produces temperature profiles with 1K/km accuracy, water vapor profiles (20%/2km), infrared cloud height and fraction, and trace gas amounts for CO₂, CO, SO₂, O₃ and CH₄ in the mid to upper troposphere [1]. AIRS wide swath¸ ±49.5°, enables daily global daily coverage for over 95% of the Earth’s surface. AIRS data are used for weather forecasting [2], validating climate model distribution [3] and processes [4], and observing long-range transport of greenhouse gases [5,6,7]. In this study, we examine the large scale and regional horizontal variability in the AIRS Mid-tropospheric Carbon Dioxide product as a function of season and associate the observed variability with known atmospheric transport processes, and sources and sinks of CO₂.
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