EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE DIFFERENT SPECTRAL BANDS ON IASI PERFORMANCE

The performance of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer, I ASI, under development at the laboratories of CNES, the French Nationa l Space Agency, has been evaluated. An error analysis has been carried out on the basis of the expected radiometric noise. To this end, a li near form of the radiative-transfer equation has been formulated for t he direct and simultaneous estimation of temperature, water vapour and ozone profiles. The results show that the performance of the new spec trometer largely meets the World Meteorological Organization temperatu re and water vapour retrieval specifications. In addition, the instrum ent should enable the distinction to be made between tropospheric and stratospheric ozone, which is of both climatological and meteorologica l importance.