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The accuracy of Nimbus 7 LIMS temperatures in the mesosphere
Author(s) -
Remsberg Ellis E.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl013i004p00311
Subject(s) - mesosphere , backscatter (email) , environmental science , altitude (triangle) , atmospheric sciences , lidar , range (aeronautics) , rayleigh scattering , meteorology , remote sensing , stratosphere , geology , physics , materials science , optics , telecommunications , geometry , mathematics , computer science , composite material , wireless
Zonal‐mean temperatures from the LIMS experiment are compared with a temperature "climatology" derived from 4 years of Rayleigh backscatter lidar measurements at 44 N and for the months of March, April, and May, when wave activity and, thus, atmospheric variability is very weak. The mean difference between the two data sets is less than 3.5 K between 37 and 64 km and is consistent with the theoretical estimates of accuracy reported for the LIMS data. The effects of longitudinal and year‐to‐year variations in this comparison were considered, but they do not change the conclusions significantly. These validation results extend the altitude range of accurate LIMS temperatures in the mesosphere some 10 km higher than previously reported. It also means that the LIMS ozone and NO 2 retrievals in the lower mesosphere should be free of any major temperature bias error effects.