HR: 15:10h
AN: A53D-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Retrieval of Trace Gas Profiles From Low-Resolution Emission Radiometers Flown on Four MANTRA Balloon Missions
AU: * Toohey, M
EM: mtoohey@atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca
AF: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George st, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7 Canada
AU: Quine, B
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, 128 Petrie Science Building 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada
AU: Strong, K
AF: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George st, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7 Canada
AU: Wunch, D
AF: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George st, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7 Canada
AU: McElroy, C T
AF: Meteorological Service of Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Downsview, ON M3H 5T4 Canada
AU: Midwinter, C
AF: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George st, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7 Canada
AU: Drummond, J R
AF: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George st, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7 Canada
AU: Davies, J
AF: Meteorological Service of Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Downsview, ON M3H 5T4 Canada
AU: Fogal, P
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, 2112 E. Wesley Ave., Denver, CO 80208-0202 United States
AU: Olsen, J
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, 2112 E. Wesley Ave., Denver, CO 80208-0202 United States
AB: Results are presented for two infrared emission radiometers flown on the MANTRA (Middle Atmosphere Nitrogen TRend Assessment) balloon missions. Four MANTRA campaigns have culminated in balloon launches in the late summer of 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004 from Vanscoy, Canada ($52\deg$N, $107\deg$W). Raw radiance measurements collected during each balloon ascent are analyzed using a forward estimation technique to simultaneously recover multiple trace gas profiles from the low-resolution spectral measurements of atmospheric radiance. The technique uses detailed atmosphere and instrument models and a least-mean-squares minimization technique to iterate best-fit volume mixing ratios for several gas species, based on atmospheric emission data taken in the 800-1250 cm$^{-1}$ atmospheric window at an instrument resolution of approximately 20 cm$^{-1}$. The primary trace gas measured by this instrument is nitric acid. Relevant retrieved profiles are compared with those obtained from infrared solar occultation spectra recorded by high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometers also flown on the 1998, 2002, and 2004 missions. These results are also compared with available data from the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) on Odin and from the ACE-FTS on Scisat-1, as well as with general nitric acid climatologies based on observations by the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument onboard the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.
UR: http://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca/MANTRA
DE: 0300 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere--composition and chemistry
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting