MIPAS: an instrument for atmospheric and climate research

• Main Authors: Fischer, H., Birk, M., Blom, C., Carli, B., Carlotti, M., von Clarmann, T., Delbouille, L., Dudhia, A., Ehhalt, D., Endemann, M., Flaud, J. M., Gessner, R., Kleinert, A., Koopman, R., Langen, J., López-Puertas, M., Mosner, P., Nett, H., Oelhaf, H., Perron, G., Remedios, J., Ridolfi, M., Stiller, G., Zander, R.
• Other Authors: Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology = Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), DLR Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre = DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IPA), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt Oberpfaffenhofen-Wessling (DLR), Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" (IFAC), National Research Council of Italy, Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica e Inorganica Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna (UNIBO), Groupe Infra-Rouge de Physique Atmosphérique et Solaire (GIRPAS), GIRPAS, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Oxford (AOPP), University of Oxford, Institut für Atmosphärische Chemie Jülich, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association-Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft = Helmholtz Association, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA (UMR_7583)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), EADS Astrium GmbH, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas España = Spanish National Research Council Spain (CSIC), ABB Bomem Inc., Earth Observation Science Group Leicester (EOS), Space Research Centre Leicester, University of Leicester-University of Leicester
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00328581; https://hal.science/hal-00328581/document; https://hal.science/hal-00328581/file/acp-8-2151-2008.pdf

International audience MIPAS, the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding, is a mid-infrared emission spectrometer which is part of the core payload of ENVISAT. It is a limb sounder, i.e. it scans across the horizon detecting atmospheric spectral radiances which are inverted to vertical temperature, trace species and cloud distributions. These data can be used for scientific investigations in various research fields including dynamics and chemistry in the altitude region between upper troposphere and lower thermosphere. The instrument is a well calibrated and characterized Fourier transform spectrometer which is able to detect many trace constituents simultaneously. The different concepts of retrieval methods are described including multi-target and two-dimensional retrievals. Operationally generated data sets consist of temperature, H 2 O, O 3 , CH 4 , N 2 O, HNO 3 , and NO 2 profiles. Measurement errors are investigated in detail and random and systematic errors are specified. The results are validated by independent instrumentation which has been operated at ground stations or aboard balloon gondolas and aircraft. Intercomparisons of MIPAS measurements with other satellite data have been carried out, too. As a result, it has been proven that the MIPAS data are of good quality. MIPAS can be operated in different measurement modes in order to optimize the scientific output. Due to the wealth of information in the MIPAS spectra, many scientific results have already been published. They include intercomparisons of temperature distributions with ECMWF data, the derivation of the whole NO y family, the study of atmospheric processes during the Antarctic vortex split in September~2002, the determination of properties of Polar Stratospheric Clouds, the downward transport of NO x in the middle atmosphere, the stratosphere-troposphere exchange, the influence of solar variability on the middle atmosphere, and the observation of Non-LTE effects in the mesosphere.