EAQUATE - An international experiment for hyperspectral atmospheric sounding validation

The international experiment called the European Aqua Thermodynamic Experiment (EAQUATE) was held in September 2004 in Italy and the United Kingdom to validate Aqua satellite Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiance measurements and derived products with certain ground-based and airborne systems useful for validating hyperspectral satellite sounding observations. A range of flights over land and marine surfaces were conducted to coincide with overpasses of the AIRS instrument on the Earth Observing System Aqua platform. Direct radiance evaluation of AIRS using National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST-I) and the Scanning High-Resolution Infrared Sounder has shown excellent agreement. Comparisons of level-2 retrievals of temperature and water vapor from AIRS and NAST-I validated against high-quality lidar and dropsonde data show that the 1-K/1-km and 10%/1-km requirements for temperature and water vapor (respectively) are generally being met. The EAQUATE campaign has proven the need for synergistic measurements from a range of observing systems for satellite calibration/validation and has paved the way for future calibration/validation activities in support of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer on the European Meteorological Operational platform and Cross-Track Infrared Sounder on the U.S. NPOESS Prepatory Project platform.