Interferometric vs spectral IASI radiances: Effective data-reduction approaches for the satellite sounding of atmospheric thermodynamical parameters

Two data-reduction approaches for the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer satellite instrument are discussed and compared. The approaches are intended for the purpose of devising and implementing fast near real time retrievals of atmospheric thermodynamical parameters. One approach is based on the usual selection of sparse channels or portions of the spectrum. This approach may preserve the spectral resolution, but at the expense of the spectral coverage. The second approach considers a suitable truncation of the interferogram (the Fourier transform of the spectrum) at points below the nominal maximum optical path difference. This second approach is consistent with the Shannon-Whittaker sampling theorem, preserves the full spectral coverage, but at the expense of the spectral resolution. While the first data-reduction acts within the spectral domain, the second can be performed within the interferogram domain and without any specific need to go back to the spectral domain for the purpose of retrieval. To assess the impact of these two different data-reduction strategies on retrieval of atmospheric parameters, we have used a statistical retrieval algorithm for skin temperature, temperature, water vapour and ozone profiles. The use of this retrieval algorithm is mostly intended for illustrative purposes and the user could choose a different inverse strategy. In fact, the interferogram-based data-reduction strategy is generic and independent of any inverse algorithm. It will be also shown that this strategy yields subset of interferometric radiances, which are less sensitive to potential interfering effects such as those possibly introduced by the day-night cycle (e.g., the solar component, and spectroscopic effect induced by sun energy) and unknown trace gases variability. © 2010 by the authors.