A33J-3331:
New Measurements of CH3OH from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Michelle L Santee1, Nathaniel J Livesey1, William George Read1, Jessica L. Neu1, Gloria L Manney2 and Michael J Schwartz1, (1)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (2)NorthWest Research Associates, Inc, Socorro, NM, United States
Abstract:
Methanol (CH3OH) is one of the most abundant organic molecules in the atmosphere and has been detected in biomass burning plumes in the upper troposphere / lower stratosphere. The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), launched as part of NASA’s Aura mission in July 2004, measures vertical profiles of temperature, cloud ice, and an extensive suite of trace gases in the middle atmosphere. With the recent release of the version 4 (v4) data processing algorithms, Aura MLS now provides daily observations of CH3OH. Initial evaluation of the MLS CH3OH measurements suggests that they will be scientifically useful in the tropics at 100 and 147 hPa. Here we introduce the new MLS v4 CH3OH data and present preliminary validation results, including a systematic error analysis and comparisons with limited correlative measurements and output from a chemistry climate model.
