Hydrometeors and Atmospheric Thermal Structure Derived from the Infrared and Microwave Satellite Observations: Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS) and Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU)

The infrared and microwave satellite observations have been used to derive the information of hydrometeors (i.e., cloud and precipitation) and atmospheric temperature. The observations were made by the Nimbus-4 Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS) in 1970, and by the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) during the period 1980-99, which had channel 1~4 (Chl~4). The IRIS, which has a field of view of ~100 km, has been utilized to examine the cirrus and marine stratus clouds. The cirrus and stratus distributions were obtained, respectively, based on the spectral difference in the infrared window region, and the absorption of water vapor and $CO_2$ in the spectral region $870-980cm^{-1}$. The MSU Ch1 data has been used for low tropospheric temperature and hydrometeors, while the Ch2, Ch3 and Ch4, respectively, for the thermal state of midtroposphere, tropopause, and lower stratosphere. The climatic aspects of El Ni$\tilde{n}$o, Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and temperature trends over the globe are discussed with the MSU data. This study suggests that the IRIS and MSU data are useful for monitoring the hydrometeors and atmospheric thermal state in climate system.

적외선과 마이크로파 위성관측에서 유도된 대기물현상 및 대기 열적 상태: 적외선 간섭분광계 (IRIS)와 Microwave Sounding Unit