HIGH-RESOLUTION DEPICTION OF ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE, STABILITY AND SURFACE-TEMPERATURE FROM COMBINED MAMS AND VAS RADIANCES

With the development of remote sensing as a research tool, meteorological investigations into mesoscale (meso beta and meso gamma scales) spatial variability of the Earth's atmosphere and surface have become feasible. While meso beta scale (20-200 km) atmospheric and surface variability has been the subject of much investigation, relatively little effort has been made to study meso gamma scale (2-20 km) variation, primarily because few remote sensing systems exist that can provide meaningful information at meso gamma scales. In an effort to gain further understanding of mesoscale variability of the Earth-atmosphere system, aircraft-borne Multi-spectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) 100 metre resolution radiometric data and geostationary-borne VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) 8 km resolution radiometric data have been used together in a physical retrieval method to produce 100 metre resolution depictions of atmospheric moisture, stability and skin temperature. The VAS, with its infrared sounding capability, provides the vertical information to the retrieval while the MAMS, with its 100 metre resolution, provides the horizontal information. The retrievals show mesoscale features including a moist tongue intrusion and an urban heat island. Meso gamma scale gradients are found to exceed meso beta scale gradients, and significant meso gamma scale variability is not captured in current geostationary sounding data. Horizontal atmospheric moisture and stability and skin temperature gradients are detectable at spatial resolutions down to 300 metres, the smallest resolution at which the gradients were evaluated. This suggests that improvements to the spatial resolution (while maintaining good signal-to-noise) of operational sounding data will yield improved information on atmospheric and surface gradients, especially at the meso gamma scale.