A Long Term Satellite Record of Mesospheric and Upper Stratospheric Temperature and Related Datasets, the MUSTARD Project.

Abstract:

The Mesospheric and Upper Stratospheric Temperature and Related Datasets (MUSTARD) project seeks to develop a multi-year record of unified satellite observations of atmospheric temperature profiles in Earth's mesosphere and upper stratosphere. The MUSTARD record will be drawn from three limb emission sounding instruments: the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instruments on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS, launched in 1991) and Aura (launched 2004) missions, and the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, Dynamics mission (TIMED, launched in 2002). The record will also include observations from three solar occultation instruments: the UARS Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS, launched in 2004) and the Solar Occultation for Ice (SOFIE) instrument on the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere mission (AIM, launched in 2007).

We will describe the goals of the MUSTARD project, including the generation of new Level 2 datasets for the MLS instruments, the application of Fourier-based "asynoptic" gridding to MLS and SABER observations, and the development of "derived" products from the temperature observations (geopotential height, winds, potential vorticity etc.). We will also review the planned approach to unifying these observations and developing a "merged" record spanning more than two decades.