EOS Validation Program

Institution: NOAA/CMDL/Mauna Loa Observatory
                    Mauna Loa Observatory
                    PO Box 275
                    Hilo, HI 96721
Phone: (808) 933-6965
FAX: (808) 933-6965
E-mail: John.E.Barnes@noaa.gov

February 2003
March 2004

We are proposing to provide validation data over a 100 day period in each of the two years following the launch of the Aqua (PM) platform. The work will be done by the NOAA/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory?s baseline Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) and at their balloon launch facility in Hilo, Hawaii. The exact period will be determined by the condition of the AIRS instrument to get optimal validation data. The observatory is quite flexible in accommodating the actual launch date. The validation measurements are additions to ongoing projects currently conducted by MLO, and would not be part of a campaign.

Humidity validation: measurements will be made through the troposphere during nighttime overpasses and near passes of the satellite (at least 14 per year) by raman water vapor lidar and with seven simultaneous launches of radiosondes per year from the observatory. All radiosondes to be used in this proposal will use the best available humidity sensors (H sensors). There will be seven launches of ozonesondes per year during daytime overpasses also carrying the humidity sensors.

Temperature validation: the daytime and nighttime sondes will measure profiles through troposphere during overpasses. The daytime sondes will continue the profiles through the stratosphere to approximately 30 km. The nitrogen raman and rayleigh channels of the lidar will provide nighttime profiles from about 5 to 65 km.

Ozone validation: the seven ozonesonde flights during the daytime overpasses will measure the ozone profile. The total daytime column ozone will be measured by Dobson spectrophotometer.

No aircraft usage is proposed.