Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 6 5 2006 10.5194/acpd-6-8649-2006 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/8649/2006/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/8649/2006/acpd-6-8649-2006.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/8649/2006/acpd-6-8649-2006.pdf 8649 8680 2006-09-13 First Odin sub-mm retrievals in the tropical upper troposphere: humidity and cloud ice signals M. Ekström mattias.ekstrom@chalmers.se P. Eriksson B. Rydberg D. P. Murtagh Department of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden Odin-SMR is a limb-sounder operating in the 500 region with the capability of performing measurements down to altitudes of about 10 with relatively low influence of ice clouds. Until now spectra from tropospheric tangent altitudes have been disregarded due to inadequate handling of scattering. A first method to extract upper tropospheric quantities has now been developed, yielding the humidity in two layers around 200 and 130 and information on cloud ice content above 200. <br><br> The main concern for these retrievals is the calibration performance. A careful analysis indicates a systematic calibration error of about 1 K, but also a random component that differs between the two bands. The random calibration uncertainty results in retrieval errors of 10&ndash;60% depending on humidity and band. Presently this prohibits use of single retrievals, but averages can be presented with good accuracy. The fixed calibration error can largely be removed, leaving the spectroscopic uncertainties to dominate the humidity retrieval accuracy, estimated to be around 20%. <br><br> First results are presented that are in agreement with seasonal structure obtained from other satellite measurements. An encouraging comparison between MOZAIC data and measurements for the 200 layer gives further confidence in the capability of Odin-SMR to measure humidity in the upper tropical troposphere.