AERI profiling using GFS first guess

Description

Profiles of temperature and water vapor in the lower troposphere can be obtained from the atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer (AERI) infrared spectrometer under clear-sky conditions using the AERI Profiles (AERIPROF) physical retrieval developed at the University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center. The accuracy of the retrieval, however, is dependent of the quality of the first guess that is used. New automation is under development to provide first-guess profiles for the AERI physical retrieval using routinely received Global Forecast System (GFS) model output. As a result, deploying the AERI retrieval will be possible anywhere in the world where general internet access is available, using simple configuration including the latitude and longitude of the AERI observing site. Comparisons between AERI retrievals at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Southern Great Plains (SGP), North Slope of Alaska (NSA), and Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) sites using both a GFS- and radiosonde-based first guess show good agreement. These results pave the way for autonomous deployment of the AERI instrument and high-quality temperature and water vapor profiling without the need for a collocated radiosonde station.