Stratospheric Temperature Profiles from Limb Radiance Measurements

Abstract Stlratospheric temperature profiles have been inferred from limb radiance data. The limb radiance observations were made from an Aerobee rocket flown on 7 February 1970 from White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The inferred temperatures were similar to those available from rocket sounding data. Horizontal variations of temperature at the 10-mb surface agreed with radiosonde data; however, the inferred temperatures were systematically warmer at 10 mb with larger increases of temperature from 30 to 10 nab than comparative radiosonde data. Two of the inferred temperature profiles provide an excellent example in which two measurements are sufficiently alike to separate real vertical temperature structure from effects of random radiance noise. Vertical resolution was about 2 km and the largest lapse noted was near dry adiabatic.