Internal consistency of MIPAS Level 2 products

Atmospheric vertical profiles of temperature, pressure and concentrations of O3, H2O, CH4, HNO3, N2O and NO2, in the altitude range from 12 to 68 km are routinely retrieved from the measurements of the MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) instrument operating on board the ENVISAT satellite. Some internal consistency checks are performed on these measurements in order to verify the quality of the measurement system that includes the satellite measurements and the data processing. Good internal agreement is in general obtained, but in some cases the comparison with the a-priori understandings identifies the presence of some biases that need to be further investigated.