Comparison of the MIPAS products obtained by four different level 2 processors

Abstract

MIPAS is a midinfrared Fourier Transform spectrometer that sounded the atmospheric emission at limb onboard the ENVISAT satellite. It was launched on 31 March 2002 in a sun-synchronous polar orbit of about 800 km altitude and operated until 8 April 2012. The limb scanning sequence observed by the instrument is made of spectra that sound the atmosphere at different tangent altitudes (the tangent altitude is the minimum altitude reached by the line of sight and is also the altitude from where most of the observed signal originates). The inversion of the measurements allows the determination of the vertical profiles of the atmospheric quantities of interest in the range of the tangent altitudes covered by the limb scanning sequence, which is 6-70 km for the nominal measurement mode. […]