Optimized spectral microwindows for data analysis of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding on the environmental satellite

For data analysis of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric S ounding (MIPAS) atmospheric limb emission spectroscopic experiment on Envir onmental Satellite microwindows, i.e., small spectral regions for data anal ysis, have been defined and optimized. A novel optimization scheme has been developed for this purpose that adjusts microwindow boundaries such that t he total retrieval error with respect to measurement noise, parameter uncer tainties, and systematic errors is minimized. Dedicated databases that cont ain optimized microwindows for retrieval of vertical profiles of pressure a nd temperature, H2O, O-3, HNO3, CH4, N2O, and NO2 have been generated. Furt hermore, a tool for optimal selection of subsets of predefined microwindows for specific retrieval situations has been provided. This tool can be used further for estimating total retrieval errors for a selected microwindow s ubset. It has been shown by use of this tool that an altitude-dependent def inition of microwindows is superior to an altitude-independent definition. For computational efficiency a dedicated microwindow-related list of spectr al lines has been defined that contains only those spectral lines that are of relevance for MIPAS limb sounding observations. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS code: 280.0280.