Summary The intent of the MOPITT ATBD is to describe the algorithm involved in converting the Level 1 MOPITT radiances into the Level 2 products of retrieved CO profiles and column amounts of CO and CH 4.
MOPITT CO measurements primary objective is to obtain profiles with a resolution of 22 km horizontally, 3 km vertically and with an accuracy of 10% throughout ... the troposphere. A CO total column amount measurement will also be made with a 10% accuracy. For CH 4 , the objective is to measure the column in the troposphere to a precision of better than 1%, with a spatial resolution similar to that of the CO measurement. The column amounts of CO and CH 4 will only be available on the sunlit side of the orbit as standard level 2 MOPITT products.
The concentration of CO in the earth's atmosphere had been increasing mainly because of increased human activities (Khalil and Rasmussen, 1984). However recent surface mesurments by Novelli et al.(1994), show a leveling off of the CO concentration. The full range of the effects of the increased concentration of CO is not fully understood at the present time, but it is believed that CO is photochemically active and plays a major part in the concentration of OH radicals in the troposphere. Increased CO may deplete tropospheric OH radicals, thereby reducing the yearly removal of many natural and anthropogenic trace species. In particular, this effect may add to the increase of CH 4, which in turn could further reduce OH concentration. Increased CO may also indirectly intensify global warming and perturb the stratospheric ozone layer by increasing the lifetime of trace gases such as CH 4 , CH3 Cl, CH3 CCl3 , and CFCs.
[Summary adapted from the MOPITT ATBD pdf file.]
Related URL
Link:
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Description:
The MOPITT home page offers information and graphics related to the
MOPITT instrument on board the AM-1 satellite.
Quality This service is best suited for scientists and researchers.
Access Constraints All ATBDs are provided in PDF format which can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat. Adobe Acrobat is a freely downloadable document viewer.
The Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (LaRC DAAC) will archive and distribute data that result from MOPITT. Data can be ordered via the LaRC DAAC web site at http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov.
Name:
JAMES
R.
DRUMMOND
Phone:
(416) 978-4723
Fax:
(416) 978-8905
Email:
jim at atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca
Contact Address:
Physics Department, University of Toronto, 60 St. City:
Toronto
Province or State:
Ontario
Postal Code:
M5S 1A7
Country:
Canada
Distribution Media
Distribution_Media:
Electronic
Distribution_Size:
2935 KB
Distribution_Format:
pdf file
Personnel
TYLER
B.
STEVENS Role:
SERF AUTHOR
Phone:
(301) 614-6898
Fax:
301-614-5268
Email:
Tyler.B.Stevens at nasa.gov
Contact Address:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Global Change Master Directory City:
Greenbelt
Province or State:
MD
Postal Code:
20771
Country:
USA
Publications/References An extensive list of references is available on pages 62-65 of the MOPITT ATBD pdf file.
Creation and Review Dates
SERF Creation Date:
1999-11-04
SERF Last Revision Date:
2007-02-23
Links
