• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2011

The atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) sensor loaded on the Aqua satellite observes the global vertical structure of atmosphere and enables verification of the water vapor distribution over the entire area of South Korea. In this study, we performed a comparative analysis of the accuracy of the total precipitable water (TPW) provided as the AIRS level 2 standard retrieval product by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) over the South Korean area using the global positioning system (GPS) TPW data. The analysis TPW for the period of one year in 2008 showed that the accuracy of the data produced by the combination of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit sensor with the AIRS sensor to correct the effect of clouds (AIRS-X) was higher than that of the AIRS IR-only data (AIRS-I). The annual means of the root mean square error with reference to the GPS data were 5.2 kg/$m^2$ and 4.3 kg/$m^2$ for AIRS-I and AIRS-X, respectively. The accuracy of AIRS-X was higher in summer than in winter while measurement values of AIRS-I and AIRS-X were lower than those of GPS TPW to some extent.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.371-382
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• 2005

We present a processing system for the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) sounding suite onboard Aqua satellite. With its unprecedented 2378 channels in IR bands, AIRS aims at achieving the sounding accuracy of radiosonde (1 K in 1-km layer for temperature and $10\%$ in 2-km layer for humidity). The core of the processor is the International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP) that performs the geometric and radiometric correction for generation of Level 1 brightness temperature and Level 2 geophysical parameters retrieval. The processor can produce automatically from received raw data to Level 2 geophysical parameters. As we process the direct-broadcast data almost for the first time among the AIRS direct-broadcast community, a special attention is paid to understand and verify the Level 2 products. This processor includes sub-systems, that is, the near real time validation system which made the comparison results with in-situ measurement data, and standard digital information system which carry out the data format conversion into GRIdded Binary II (GRIB II) standard format to promote active data communication between meteorological societies. This processing system is planned to encourage the application of geophysical parameters observed by AIRS to research the aqua cycle in the Korean peninsula.