Ten Years of Satellite Infrared Radiance Monitoring With the Met Office NWP Model

Satellite sounder infrared radiances are among the most important contributions to the global observing system and have been assimilated into global numerical weather prediction (NWP) analyses for many years. They are also used as fundamental climate data records for climate monitoring. Prior to assimilation or producing climate records, the radiances should have all residual instrument biases removed. One way of estimating the mean biases is to continuously monitor the measured radiances against the NWP model equivalent radiances. This article is an extension of one published in 2012 which documented these biases for three years but now the time span of the monitoring has extended to beyond ten years, allowing the long-term stability of the instruments to be assessed. Data from high-resolution infrared sounder (HIRS), Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR), and Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI), radiometers; atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS), a spectrometer; and infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer (IASI), an interferometer, were included. Changes in mean biases and standard deviations were used to investigate the temporal stability of the bias and radiometric noise of the instruments over ten years. A double difference technique was employed to remove the effect of changes or deficiencies in the NWP system and radiative transfer (RT) model, which can contribute to the biases. The IASI and AIRS radiances were stable but with a different bias between the two instruments due to different versions of the RT model used. The SEVIRI radiometers were stable in most channels with the exception of the 13.4 μm channel. The HIRS instruments were subject to sudden changes in bias and increases in standard deviation compared with NWP simulations during the past decade.