HR: 1330h
AN: H32B-0578 [PDF]
TI: Detection of Temperature and Moisture Variability
in the Planetary Boundary Layer From AIRS Observations
AU: * Hagan, D E
EM: denise.e.hagan@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive Mail Stop 169-237,
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
AU: Chen, L L
EM: luke.l.chen@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive Mail Stop 169-237,
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
AB:
The profiles of temperature and moisture in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), or that region above the surface within the
scale-height of water vapor (e.g., 1 to 2 km above the surface) are extremely important to water transport and the
cloud-surface energy budget. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), a very precise, medium-resolution spectrometer on the
Aqua spacecraft, is providing profiles of atmospheric temperature and water vapor at vertical resolution of one to two
kilometers. We demonstrate that AIRS is sensitive to variability in PBL temperature and humidity structures and that the
vertical structure can be quantitatively resolved. Our studies focus on the response of weak water vapor lines of varying
ground state energies as well as nearby continuum regions between 800-1200 wavenumbers. Atmospheric temperature and moisture
profiles derived from in situ observations are used in line-by-line radiative transfer model computations, where the spectral
response functions are convolved in order to compare with the AIRS spectral radiances. We describe a capability to detect
and potentially quantify variable mixed layer thickness, moisture stratification and temperature inversion through
comparisons of radiative transfer calculations with AIRS observations. The results may be especially relevant for studies of
the stable marine boundary, stratus evolution and frontal dynamics.
DE: 0312 Air/sea constituent fluxes (3339, 4504)
DE: 0325 Evolution of the atmosphere
DE: 1655 Water cycles (1836)
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
DE: 1878 Water/energy interactions
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting