Validation of "cloud-free" tropical UTLS MIPAS ozone and water vapour

Anomalous concentration values detected in cloud-flagged MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) L2 tropical ozone and water vapour profiles analysed at the University of Leicester motivates us to investigate the current cloud detection scheme used operationally by MIPAS. In this paper, we describe a method that explores the effect of tropical upper tropospheric clouds on MIPAS ozone and water vapour profiles and quantify the cloud screening that will potentially maximise the quantity of clear sky L2 profiles produced and minimise errors produced by clouds. We also present validation results of MIPAS tropical ozone and water vapour profiles using the HALOE and SHADOZ datasets.