Validation of measurements of water vapor from the halogen occultation experiment (HALOE)

The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) experiment is a solar occultation limb sounder which operates between 2.45 and 10.0 mu m to measure the composition of the mesosphere, stratosphere, and upper troposphere. It flies onboard the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) which was launched in September 1991. Measurements are made of the transmittance of the atmosphere in a number of spectral channels as the Sun rises or sets behind the limb of the atmosphere. One of the channels, at 6.60 mu m, is a broadband filter channel tuned to detect absorption in the nu(2) band of water vapor. This paper describes efforts to validate the absolute and relative uncertainties (accuracy and precision) of the measurements from this channel. The HALOE data have been compared with independent measurements, using a variety of observational techniques, from balloons, from the ground, and from other space missions, and with the results of a two-dimensional model. The results show that HALOE is providing global measurements throughout the stratosphere and mesosphere with an accuracy within +/-10% over most of this height range, and to within +/-30% at the boundaries, and to a precision in the lower stratosphere of a few percent. The H2O data are combined with HALOE measurements of CH4 in order to test the data in terms of conservation of total hydrogen, with most encouraging results. The observed systematic behavior and internal consistency of the HALOE data, coupled with these estimates of their accuracy, indicate that the data may be used for quantitative tests of our understanding of the physical and chemical processes which control the concentration of H2O in the middle atmosphere.