GOME-MERIS WATER VAPOUR TOTAL COLUMN INTER-COMPARISON ON GLOBAL SCALE: JANUARY-JUNE 2003

摘要

'MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer' and 'Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment' instruments are flying onboard different platforms (ENVISAT and ERS-2 respectively). They are characterized by different spatial resolution, and are based upon different measurement principles. Nevertheless, it is demonstrated here that atmospheric parameters estimated from GOME spectral measurements can be used to approximate MERIS cloud and water vapour products with good precision. The advantage of using GOME cloud and water vapour data resides in the consolidated quality of these products, which have been validated extensively during the last decade, and on the possibility to compare GOME and MERIS products on global scale. The region of interest for this analysis is limited to ±60° latitude, to avoid possible problems in discriminating Earth's surface ice from clouds. The time period analysed is January-June 2003: in fact this is period in which GOME products were still acquired on global scale before the failure of the ERS-2 on-board recording system.