The Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment: An evaluation of instrument and algorithms

The Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx) was designed to investigate the absolute radiometric accuracy of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and test the radiative transfer algorithms on which applications using IASI radiances rely. Two comprehensively instrumented research aircraft participated in coordinated measurements co-aligned with overpasses on the IASI instrument, with airborne interferometers obtaining radiance observations alongside intensive measurements of the atmospheric state. The JAIVEx data set has been used to place an upper bound on the absolute radiometric accuracy of IASI radiances. Further, a set of clear air case studies have been used to test competing formulations of the CO2 line shape, water vapor spectroscopic line parameters and continuum. The current state-of-the art performance of line-by-line models is established with implications for optimal use of IASI radiances in numerical weather prediction.