Satellite-Based Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Development and Applications Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Atmospheric sounding of the vertical changes in temperature and moisture is one of the key contributions from meteorological satellites. The concept of using satellite infrared radiation observations for retrieving atmospheric temperature was first proposed by Jean I. F. King. Lewis D. Kaplan noted that the radiation from different spectral regions are primarily emanating from different atmospheric layers, which can be used to retrieve the atmospheric temperature at different heights in the atmosphere. The United States launched the first meteorological satellite Television Infrared Observation Satellite-1 (TIROS-1) on 1 April 1960, opening a new era of observing the Earth and its atmosphere from space. Since then, hundreds of meteorological satellites have been launched by space agencies, including those in Europe, China, Japan, Russia, India, Korea, and others. With the rapid development of atmospheric sounding technology and radiative transfer models, it became possible to determine the atmospheric state from combined satellite- and ground-based measurements. With advances in computing power, forecast model development, data assimilation, and observing technologies, numerical weather prediction (NWP) has achieved consistently better results and thereby improved the prediction and early warning of severe weather events as well as fostered the initial monitoring of global climate change. The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the development of satellite vertical sounding capability, quantitative profile retrieval theory, and applications of satellite-based atmospheric sounding measurements, with a focus on infrared sounding.