Monitoring of the Essential Climate Variables of the Atmosphere from Satellite-based Infrared Sounder IKFS-2.

The paper discusses the use of measurements of the IKFS-2 hyperspectral infrared sounder installed on Meteor-M polar-orbiting weather satellites for remote derivation of the atmospheric parameters related to so called essential climate variables (ECV) of the atmosphere, whose monitoring is necessary to characterize the climate system and its changes. The ECVs include the concentrations of the main atmosphere greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone), characteristics of clouds and aerosols, as well as vertical temperature profiles, near-surface temperature, etc. A brief description of the IKFS-2 instrument and the results of its operation on board the Meteor-M spacecraft No. 2 during the period from the autumn of 2014 till now is given. The possibility of forming multiyear homogeneous series containing IKFS-2 measurements and satellite-based estimates of the aforementioned atmospheric ECVs is analyzed. An advanced method for deriving the total content of atmospheric carbon dioxide from IKFS-2 measurements is presented. The information on the errors of satellite-based ECV estimates obtained from their comparison with independent observations is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]