Validation of ozone data from the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES)

The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) onboard the International Space Station provided global measurements of ozone profiles in the middle atmosphere from 12 October 2009 to 21 April 2010. We present validation studies of the SMILES version 2.1 ozone product based on coincidence statistics with satellite observations and outputs of chemistry and transport models (CTMs). Comparisons of the stratospheric ozone with correlative data show agreements that are generally within 10%. In the mesosphere, the agreement is also good and better than 30% even at a high altitude of 73km, and the SMILES measurements with their local time coverage also capture the diurnal variability very well. The recommended altitude range for scientific use is from 16 to 73km. We note that the SMILES ozone values for altitude above 26km are smaller than some of the correlative satellite datasets; conversely the SMILES values in the lower stratosphere tend to be larger than correlative data, particularly in the tropics, with less than 8% difference below similar to 24km. The larger values in the lower stratosphere are probably due to departure of retrieval results between two detection bands at altitudes below 28km; it is similar to 3% at 24km and is increasing rapidly down below

Overview of the Martian atmospheric submillimetre sounder FIRE

We propose a submillimetre-wave atmospheric emission sounding instrument, called Far-InfraRed Experiment (FIRE), for the Japanese Martian exploration programme "Mars Exploration with Lander-Orbiter Synergy" (MELOS). The scientific target of FIRE/MELOS is to understand the dust suspended meteorology of the Mars. FIRE will provide key meteorological parameters, such as atmospheric temperature profiles for outside and inside dust storms, the abundance profile of the atmospheric compositions and their isotopes, and wind velocity profiles. FIRE will also provide the local time dependency of these parameters. The observational sensitivity of FIRE/MELOS is discussed in this paper. FIRE will explore the meteorological system of the Martian atmosphere including the interaction between its surface and atmosphere