MIPAS Level 1B Improvements

Abstract

The MIPAS instrument measures high-resolution Infra-Red (IR) emission spectra at the Earth's limb in the middle and upper atmosphere along the orbit during day and night. The spectral range covered is 685 to 2410 cm-1 and is divided into five bands with a spectral sampling of 0.025 cm-1 during Full Resolution (FR) period and 0.0625 cm-1 during Optimised Resolution (OR) period. The MIPAS level 1B algorithm transforms instrument raw data into spectra calibrated spectrally, radiometrically and determines the geo-location over the earth geoid of the tangent point. This paper describes the level 1B algorithm modifications and improvements since last ACVE. E.g., spectral calibration, pointing, spike detection, detector non-linearity characterisation among others. The Near Real Time (NRT) processing and the mission archive reprocessing data quality was greatly improved. Finally, a summary of future planned improvements are presented.