Articles | Volume 7, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4117-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4117-2014
Research article
 | 
03 Dec 2014
Research article |  | 03 Dec 2014

Characterization of model errors in the calculation of tangent heights for atmospheric infrared limb measurements

M. Ridolfi and L. Sgheri

Abstract. We review the main factors driving the calculation of the tangent height of spaceborne limb measurements: the ray-tracing method, the refractive index model and the assumed atmosphere. We find that commonly used ray tracing and refraction models are very accurate, at least in the mid-infrared. The factor with largest effect in the tangent height calculation is the assumed atmosphere. Using a climatological model in place of the real atmosphere may cause tangent height errors up to ± 200 m. Depending on the adopted retrieval scheme, these errors may have a significant impact on the derived profiles.

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Short summary
In this paper, we review the main factors driving the calculation of the tangent height of spaceborne limb measurements: the ray-tracing method, the refractive index model and the assumed atmosphere. We find that commonly used ray-tracing and refraction models are very accurate, at least in the mid-infrared. The factor with the largest effect in the tangent height calculation is the assumed atmosphere, which may cause errors of up to 200m.