Equatorial atmospheric waves provide a mechanism for variability on a wide range of timescales and for disturbances in one part of the tropics to influence other tropical locations around the globe. A Mars general circulation model is used to investigate how equatorial waves behave under different atmospheric dust loading scenarios and when perturbed by dust storms. Such waves may be important for understanding triggering of distant dust storms or additional dust lifting centers within large storms. Equatorial waves appear to change when dust storm sequences cross the equator or when background dust amounts significantly vary, with eastward- and westward-propagating waves within a wide spectral interval being amplified in general. Specifically, many low-frequency, long-wavelength equatorial waves become prominent during prescribed dust storm episodes. Their horizontal wave structures seen in the 100 Pa geopotential field show a resemblance to equatorial Rossby, Kelvin, and mixed Rossby–gravity waves. Waves with different wave periods and zonal wavenumbers evolve with time and interfere with each other, leading to complex time-dependent eddy patterns. This study shows that both dust storms and background dust can significantly influence the spectra and structures of eddies in the tropical Martian atmosphere.

Surface release of radiatively active particles, with high infrared- (IR-)to-visible extinction ratios, has been proposed as a method of warming Mars. However, to warm Mars using aerosols, particles released locally must disperse globally. Here we provide an initial reference study in a plume tracking, dry Martian atmospheric model to address this question. The winds that transport aerosols respond to the aerosol's IR forcing, implying strong radiative-dynamical feedbacks (RDF). We investigate RDF from surface release of two particle compositions: carbon (graphene) and metal (Al). Self-lofting helps particles rise and spread locally and regionally, and the Hadley cell strengthens under warming, aiding latitudinal mixing. Within our model, Mars RDF enable engineered-aerosol warming. Warming is slightly greater for three-dimensional vs. 1D-models and also depends on spectral resolution of radiative transfer. We assess implications for Mars warming. Many open atmospheric science questions remain, including the role of agglomeration, dry-deposition rate uncertainty, and modeling water cycle feedbacks.

Recent papers by Ansari et al. (2024, Science Advances 10, eadn4650) and Richardson et al. (2025, arXiv eprint 2504.01455) have suggested that global warming of the Martian surface ('terraforming') by 35 K to sustain local habitats above the melting point of water could be achieved through the injection of engineered aerosols into the Martian atmosphere. Using the MarsWRF 3D Global Climate Model, we investigate how artificial warming of Mars through engineered aerosol release would affect the planetary water cycle and the distribution of the major surface ice reservoirs. Within our model framework, every 20 K of global warming induces a tenfold increase in atmospheric water vapour content due to sublimation of H2O ice from the North Polar Cap. This increases the potency of cloud radiative feedbacks which induces nighttime warming ( 5-10 K) at low latitudes, but daytime cooling (up to 40 K) in the winter midlatitudes. Water is transferred from the edge of the North Polar Cap to the South Polar Cap and there is minor destabilisation of shallow northern midlatitude subsurface ice. As a result, seasonal sublimation of H2O ice from the South Pole has an increased impact on the global water cycle. These changes persist on Mars at least decades after loading of the atmosphere with engineered aerosols ceases. Our model is limited by the gaps in our knowledge of present-day Martian weather and climate, and of the microphysics and radiative properties of candidate warming agents. Much more data is therefore needed before warming Mars could become feasible.

Recent imaging observations from the Emirates Exploration Imager show significant diurnal variation of dust storm evolution that is unresolved by traditional daily global mapping from sun synchronous orbit. Motivated by these observations, we present initial simulations from a global numerical model examining the diurnal evolution of transported, radiatively active dust from simulated dust sources. The simulations show that the expansion and mixing of large local and regional dust storms are strongly modified by the wide diurnal "reach" of thermo-tidal winds. In particular, thermo-tidal winds can rapidly spread dust between adjacent storms and can translate storms over significant distances, including transporting storm dust between different meteorological regimes.

The Tropical Cloud Oscillation (TCO) in the Martian atmosphere is a shift of clouds in the northern spring and summer tropical cloud belt between the eastern and western hemispheres on an intra-seasonal timescale of about 10-40 sols. The TCO is a significant intraseasonal variation and may strongly affect the Martian general circulation, water cycle, and dust cycle. We examine TCOs using multiple data sets with a focus on the clouds observed in Mars Daily Global Maps during Mars Year (MY) 29-35. One or more TCO cycles are observed in each MY and the phenomenon is most prominent during Ls = 135 degrees-185 degrees. Space-time spectral analysis shows a variety of waves which appear to follow the theoretical dispersion relationships of equatorial waves, such as Kelvin waves, Rossby waves, and Mixed Rossby Gravity waves. The TCO appears to be controlled by zonal wavenumber one traveling waves with Kelvin and Rossby wave characteristics and exhibits a fine-scale latitudinal structure that requires modeling with sufficient resolution. Issues with current data assimilation products for use in studies of Martian equatorial waves due to this fine-scale structure are discussed.

The radiant energy budget (REB) is a fundamental physical parameter for planetary bodies, though studies constraining the REB for bodies beyond Earth are relatively limited. We generate the first meridional profiles of Mars' REB at seasonal and annual timescales through measurements based on long term multi-instrument observations from spacecraft orbiting Mars. Then, we compare our findings to Earth's REB using contemporary satellite data sets. Each planet exhibits remarkably distinct seasonal REB distributions due to differences in their orbital, atmospheric, and surface properties. Annually, Earth's REB exhibits a tropical energy surplus and a deficit at the poles. In contrast, Mars' annual REB displays an inverted meridional distribution with significant hemispheric asymmetry. Additionally, global dust storms significantly modify the Martian REB. Our observations are employable in future studies to improve models on Mars' general circulation, meteorology, and polar ice cap evolution.

Satellite land surface temperature ( T _s ) records have now reached 20+ year length, but their trends may differ from historical records built from in-situ measurements of near-surface air temperature ( T _as ). In the ERA5 reanalysis, 60° S–60° N land T _s and T _as trends can differ by up to ±0.06 °C decade ^−1 over 20 years, depending on the period, or more on smaller spatial scales. Here I use 1979–1998 outputs from ACCESS1-0 climate model simulations with prescribed land T _s to understand changes in T _s and T _as . CO _2 ’s effective radiative forcing causes adjustments that warm T _as relative to T _s . In ACCESS1-0, vegetation enhances the adjustments to CO _2 over land. Meanwhile, feedbacks in ACCESS1-0 oppose the adjustments, resulting in small long-term net effects on global temperature estimates. In coupled simulations from other models, there is no agreement on whether T _s or T _as warms more and the most extreme case shows global long-term differences of just 5% between land T _s or land T _as trends. The results contrast with over-ocean behavior where adjustments and feedbacks reinforce each other, and drive larger long-term T _as warming relative to T _s across all models.

We analyze and compare atmospheric temperature data from three landed missions: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover, Phoenix lander, and Pathfinder lander. Pathfinder and Phoenix were lander missions that operated for 84 and 151 sols, respectively. MSL Curiosity is a rover that operates on the surface of Mars. It has recorded air temperature for more than five Mars Years (MY). We denoise and detrend temperature data from each mission and use those results to calculate variance in air temperature as a diagnostic for atmospheric variability at the surface. The results show a consistent seasonal pattern in MSL air temperature variance with little interannual variability outside major dust storms. The global dust storm in MY 34 was accompanied by a decrease in temperature variance and a muted response in peak MY 35 variance the following year. Phoenix (68 degrees N, 2 m measurement height) and Pathfinder (19.7 degrees N, 1.1 m measurement height) air temperatures have larger variance than air temperature from environmental data records at the MSL location (5.4 degrees S, 1.6 m measurement height) at its equatorial latitude. Pathfinder variances per sol are larger than those of Phoenix, possibly due to a combination of Pathfinder's lower albedo surface and lower latitude. This occurs despite the Pathfinder location's higher thermal inertia, which would act to decrease noontime variance relative to a lower thermal inertia surface. Comparison of MSL temperature variance to pressure drops related to convective vortex activity shows consistent seasonal patterns; however, pressure drops tend to increase with increasing rover elevation, while variance remains consistent. Landed surface missions have collected a long record of meteorological data dating back to the 1970s. Atmospheric temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and winds have been typically measured with each new mission. The atmospheric surface layer consists of the lowest layer of the atmosphere that is directly influenced by the surface. Temperature is a highly consistent measurement and contains signatures of atmospheric surface layer activity in the form of temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations are on the order of seconds to minutes and can be caused by rising thermals, dust devils and convective vortices, changes in wind, and large-scale dynamics. This work compares temperature fluctuations by detrending air temperature data over three missions: the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mission, Phoenix mission, and Pathfinder mission. The results show that these fluctuations change with season and time of day. Greater fluctuations are observed in the afternoon for all three missions and when seasonal insolation is highest. Comparison of MSL temperature fluctuations to pressure drops shows similar trends and decreases during large dust events. However, pressure drops tend to increase over the mission with increasing rover elevation, while temperature variance remains the same with elevation. Diurnal air temperature fluctuations measured by Phoenix, Pathfinder and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) follow solar forcing cyclesThe MSL daytime temperature variance is lower than Phoenix and Pathfinder daytime temperature variancesChanges in the MSL temperature fluctuations correlate with the seasonal and diurnal timing of pressure drops and dust storm activity

Predicting heavy precipitation remains scientifically challenging. Here we combine Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) temperature and moisture soundings and weather forecast winds to predict the formation of thermodynamic conditions favourable for convection in the hours following satellite overpasses. Here we treat AIRS retrievals as air parcels that are moved adiabatically to generate time-varying fields. Over much of the Central-Eastern Continental U.S. during the non-winter months of 2019-2020, our derived convective available potential energy alone predicts intense precipitation. For hourly precipitation above the all-hours 99.9th percentile, performance is marginally lower than forecasts from a convection permitting model, but similar to the ERA5 reanalysis and substantially better than using the original AIRS soundings. Our results illustrate how mesoscale advection is a major contributor to developing heavy precipitation in the region. Enhancing the full AIRS record as described here would provide an alternative approach to quantify multi-decade trends in heavy precipitation risk. Integrating weather-forecast wind data with satellite-based temperature and moisture soundings leads to better predictions of heavy hourly precipitation over the central and eastern continental United States, according to an analysis of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) data.

Internal climate variability (ICV) often violates the assumptions of statistical methods, and the climate research community does not have an established approach for addressing resulting biases. Here we argue for a technique we call climate model Large-Ensemble Monte-Carlo (LENS-MC) to inform the selection of statistical methods for real-world application. Until now, scientists have often made best efforts to select methods based on assumptions about the mathematical properties of ICV. LENS-MC relaxes these assumptions and justifies method selection, potentially for a wide range of statistical analyses. We demonstrate LENS-MC using a case study of statistical errors in 20 year trends in global temperature and top-of-atmosphere flux series, comparing results with standard ordinary least squares (OLS). OLS commonly underestimates trend uncertainties, resulting in a higher likelihood of falsely reporting statistically significant trends or changes in trends, for example reporting p < 0.05 in 20 year temperature trends when the statistics are actually equivalent to p < 0.56. LENS-MC tests result in the selection of methods that almost eliminate the low bias in OLS trend standard errors. Using the suggested methods, researchers are less likely to mistakenly report significant trends, and LENS-MC could be widely applied to statistical climate analysis for which model output is available, provided that model ICV displays similar statistical structure, such as in autocorrelation, to observed ICV.

The 3-D fields of temperature (T) and specific humidity (q) retrieved by instruments such as the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) are predictive of convection, but convection often triggers during the multi-hour gaps between satellite overpasses. Here we fill the hours after AIRS overpasses by treating AIRS retrievals as air parcels which are moved adiabatically along numerical weather prediction (NWP) wind trajectories. The approach is tested in a simulation experiment that samples 3-D European Reanalysis-5 (ERA5) T and q following the real-world AIRS time–space sampling from March–November 2019 over much of the continental US. Our time-resolved product is named ERA5-FCST, in correspondence to the AIRS forecast product we are using it to test, named AIRS-FCST. ERA5-FCST errors may arise since processes such as radiative heating and NWP sub-grid convection are ignored. For bulk atmospheric layers, ERA5-FCST captures 59 %–94 % of local hourly variation in T and q. We then consider the relationship between convective available potential energy (CAPE), convective inhibition (CIN), and ERA5 precipitation. The 1∘ latitude–longitude ERA5-FCST grid cells in our highest CAPE and lowest CIN bins are more than 50 times as likely to develop heavy precipitation (> 4 mm hr−1), compared with the baseline probability from randomly selecting a location. This is a substantial improvement compared with using the original CAPE and CIN values at overpass time. The results support the development of similar FCST products for operational atmospheric sounders to provide time-resolved thermodynamics in rapidly changing pre-convective atmospheres.

The response of tidal, “weather,” and intra‐seasonal transient eddies in a global numerical model to dust imposed in different latitudinal bands and seasons has been examined in order to investigate the impact of regional scale dust storm episodes on large‐scale circulation and hence on further dust storm development. The eddy kinetic energy and surface friction speed for each eddy group were derived using wavelet analysis from multi‐year simulations and statistical comparisons were made among the experiments. Results show that different eddy categories respond differently to dust storm forcing, and that the responses are dependent upon both modeled storm location and season. These responses can be cast in terms of potential positive and negative feedbacks on large‐scale dust storm development and have implications for the cascade of dust storms through different scales and circulation components. The model results suggest positive feedback between northern high latitude dust forcing and weather transients in the same latitudes in Quartober (Ls = 185°–245°), which weakens or disappears in Sixtober (Ls = 295°–360°). The results also suggest positive feedback between dust heating in the tropics/subtropics and tidal eddies, which may enhance the southward transport of “flushing” storms. However, southern high latitude dust forcing suppresses northern weather transients in both pseudo‐season sextons, suggesting negative feedback which may terminate northern frontal/flushing dust storm sequences and hence weaken further development of a dust storm episode through this mechanism.

We present a new planetary global circulation model, planetMPAS, based on the state-of-the-art NCAR MPAS (Model for Prediction Across Scales) General Circulation Model. Taking advantage of the cross compatibility between WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model) and MPAS, planetMPAS includes most of the plan-etWRF physics parameterization schemes for terrestrial planets such as Mars and Titan. PlanetMPAS also includes a set of physics that represents radiative transfer, dry convection, moist convection and its associated micro-physics for the Jovian atmosphere. We demonstrate that, despite the rigid-lid approximation, planetMPAS is suitable to simulate the climate systems in the Martian and Jovian atmospheres. Simulations using planetMPAS show that the new model can reproduce many aspects of the observed features on Mars and Jupiter, such as the seasonal CO2 cycle, polar argon enrichment, zonal mean temperature, and qualitative dust opacity on Mars, as well as the equatorial superrotation and banded zonal wind patterns on Jupiter.

Modeled global warming is often quantified using global near-surface air temperature (Tas). Meanwhile, long-term temperature datasets combine observations of Tas over land with sea surface temperature (SST) over ocean. Modeled ocean Tas warms more than SST, which can bias model-observation comparisons. Skin temperature (Ts), which is typically warmer than Tas, follows SST changes so the ocean surface temperature discontinuity STs = Ts -Tas decreases with warming. Here I show that under CO2 forcing, decreased STs is consistently simulated for nonpolar ocean within +/- 60 degrees S/N, but not for other regions. I investigate the causes of oceanic STs decrease using a LongRunMIP climate simula-tion, radiative kernels, and standard methods for diagnosing forcing and feedbacks from the CMIP5 ensemble. CO2 forcing establishes longwave heating of the lower atmosphere and subsequent adjustments that result in a small Tas increase, and therefore a STs decrease. During the subsequent warming in response to CO2 forcing, the model-mean surface evaporation feedback is 3.6 W m-2 degrees C-1 over oceans, which reduces Ts warming relative to Tas and further shrinks STs. Present-day forcing and feedback contributions are of similar magnitude, and both contribute to small differences in model-observation comparisons of global warming rates when these differences are not accounted for.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Earth's surface skin temperature is generally warmer than that of the air just above, and this discontinuity drives upward turbulent heat fluxes. Under global warming, climate models consistently show that over oceans, the air above warms more than the water below. This causes issues when comparing model output and observational temperature records, since observational records blend land air and ocean water temperature. It also affects understanding of how surface energy and moisture fluxes will change with warming. Observational data are cur-rently too uncertain to confidently support or refute this model behavior, and the IPCC recently noted that "there is no simple explanation based on physical grounds alone for how this difference responds to climate change." This study provides such an explanation for changes over ocean, and shows that this result applies only to nonpolar oceans.

Dust storms were manually tracked in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Mars Daily Global Maps (MDGMs) from Mars Year 29 to 33. The data were used to construct the Mars Dust Storm Sequence Dataset (MDSSD), which contains >12,000 dust storm instances that are distinguishable from the ubiquitous dust background. Based on the dust storm climatology, we propose a partition of a Mars year into six pseudo-seasons or "sextons" (named "Unober", "Duober", "Triober", "Quartober", "Quintober", and "Sixtober", respectively). The greatest dust storm activity is observed in the 3rd, 4th and 6th sextons (Triober, Quartober and Sixtober), with each containing one or more dust storm episodes. We also propose a hierarchical system for organizing information and describing the process through which dust storms develop. The hierarchy of storm behavior is described in terms of dust storm episodes within these sextons, with each episode being composed of one or more dust storm sequences, and with each dust storm sequence being composed of multiple dust storm members. The occurrence of a large dust storm episode typically results from multiple dust storm sequences that are simultaneous, staggered, or merged, though one of the component sequences typically plays a dominant role. The typical evolutionary pathway through which a large dust storm sequence develops consists of dust activity progressing from the northern to the southern hemispheres, with multiple flushing dust storm members in the northern hemisphere and followed by a much larger zonally extended dust storm member in the southern hemisphere. Differences among Mars years are related to the timing, order, and trajectories of dust storm sequences, though the overall spatial coverage of dust storm instances within a sexton is similar across years. A striking characteristic of Martian dust storm distribution is the quasi-periodic recurrence exhibited by dust storm episodes and dust storm sequences.

The Mars Dust Activity Database (MDAD) v1.1 is expanded to include all dust storm instance boundaries in MDAD v1.0 from the Mars Color Imager years (Mars Years 28–32). Dust storm boundaries are provided in two formats to ease adoption by the community: as netCDF masks and in comma separated value files. We demonstrate the utility of dust storm boundaries by showing how the frequency of dust storms evolves with season across the surface. The highest dust storm frequencies occur in the southern hemisphere around Ls = 0° and Ls = 270° and in the northern hemisphere around Ls = 180° and Ls = 300°.

The kinetic temperature of the Martian seasonal caps is controlled by the partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 at the surface. When carbon dioxide condenses, typically near the poles, light non‐condensable species (Ar, N2, CO, etc.) accumulate in the atmosphere, resulting in a decrease of the CO2 partial pressure and depressing the local frost point temperature. The buoyant air should mix laterally and vertically within the polar vortices. Observations show that the Martian seasonal caps' kinetic temperatures are ∼0–4 K below the expected CO2 frost point, depending on latitude and season, indicating atmospheric CO2 gas depletion at the surface/atmosphere interface. In the North and South, we find relatively similar non‐condensable peak enhancement factors (e.g., EFNC ∼ 6–8, up to ∼8.7 in the North) at most latitudes, confirming the efficient meridional mixing within the polar vortices, despite steep surface condensation gradients. In the South, this surface enhancement is similar to column‐integrated values derived from Gamma Ray Spectrometer data, indicating efficient vertical mixing. But in the North, the surface depletion is much larger than in the entire column, suggesting poor vertical mixing. Reduced infrared emission of the seasonal caps stemming from CO2 depletion is not a major energy balance factor. This work illustrates how the atmosphere's composition at the surface can be significantly different from column‐integrated values.

This study compares the overall performance between versions 2.1 and 3 of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global climate models (referred to as GISS-E2.1 and GISS-E3, respectively), in simulating the present-day Pacific climate using the CMIP6 protocol. Model physical representations and configurations are extensively changed from GISS-E2.1 to GISS-E3, which result in greatly reduced discrepancies, including ice water path (IWP), ice water content (IWC), radiative fluxes, surface wind stress (TAU), sea surface temperature (SST), precipitation (PR) and column water vapor (PRW), relative to satellite-based observational products over south Pacific oceans. Cloud only IWP (CIWP) shows the largest change, decreasing biases from ∼400 g kg −1 in GISS-E2.1 to 10–20 g kg −1 in GISS-E3. The combination of improved CIWP and the inclusion of snow in GISS-E3 may play roles on reducing overestimated outgoing longwave radiation, overestimated reflected shortwave at the top of atmosphere, and underestimated surface downward shortwave in GISS-E2.1. Both models’ intertropical convergence zones (ITCZs) are, however, located far too north of the equator, as found in radiative fluxes, PR and PRW but not in SST relative to observations. This introduces biases in TAU, PR and PRW over north flank of the equator and north Pacific. Over south Pacific, especially the trade wind regions, the improvements of radiation fluxes, SST, PR and PRW appear to be due to improved TAU associated with inclusion of snow-radiative effects. In particular, GISS-E3 reduces a longstanding too warm SST bias over trade-wind regions, from 4 K in GISS-E2.1 to within 0.5 K, and too cold SST bias over north Pacific Ocean. Although GISS-E3 shows improved geographic patterns of the simulated fields in particular over south Pacific oceans compared to GISS-E2.1, our results suggest that the location of ITCZ needs to be further improved.

To address critical gaps identified by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the current Earth system observation strategy, the 2017-27 Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space recommended incubating concepts for future targeted observables including the atmospheric planetary boundary layer (PBL). A subsequent NASA PBL Incubation Study Team Report identified measurement requirements and activities for advancing the maturity of the technologies applicable to the PBL targeted observables and their associated science and applications priorities. While the PBL is the critical layer where humans live and surface energy, moisture, and mass exchanges drive the Earth system, it is also the farthest and most inaccessible layer for spaceborne instruments. Here we document a PBL retrieval observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) framework suitable for assessing existing and new measurement techniques and determining their accuracy and improvements needed for addressing the elevated Decadal Survey requirements. In particular, the benefits of large-eddy simulation (LES) are emphasized as a key source of high-resolution synthetic observations for key PBL regimes: from the tropics, through subtropics and midlatitudes, to subpolar and polar regions. The potential of LES-based PBL retrieval OSSEs is explored using six instrument simulators: Global Navigation Satellite System-Radio Occultation, differential absorption radar, visible to shortwave infrared spectrometer, infrared sounder, Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, and microwave sounder. The crucial role of LES in PBL retrieval OSSEs and some perspectives for instrument developments are discussed.

Low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders have significant yet untapped potential for characterizing thermodynamic environments of convective initiation and ongoing convection. While LEO soundings are of value to weather forecasters, the temporal resolution needed to resolve the rapidly evolving thermodynamics of the convective environment is limited. We have developed a novel nowcasting methodology to extend snapshots of LEO soundings forward in time up to 6 h to create a product available within National Weather Service systems for user assessment. Our methodology is based on parcel forward-trajectory calculations from the satellite-observing time to generate future soundings of temperature ( T ) and specific humidity ( q ) at regularly gridded intervals in space and time. The soundings are based on NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) retrievals from the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership ( Suomi NPP ) and NOAA-20 satellite platforms. The tendencies of derived convective available potential energy (CAPE) and convective inhibition (CIN) are evaluated against gridded, hourly accumulated rainfall obtained from the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) observations for 24 hand-selected cases over the contiguous United States. Areas with forecast increases in CAPE (reduced CIN) are shown to be associated with areas of precipitation. The increases in CAPE and decreases in CIN are largest for areas that have the heaviest precipitation and are statistically significant compared to areas without precipitation. These results imply that adiabatic parcel advection of LEO satellite sounding snapshots forward in time are capable of identifying convective initiation over an expanded temporal scale compared to soundings used only during the LEO satellite overpass time. Significance Statement Advection of low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite observations of temperature and specific humidity forward in time exhibits skill in determining where and when convection eventually initiates. This approach provides a foundation for a new nowcasting methodology leveraging thermodynamic soundings derived from hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders on LEO satellite platforms. This method may be useful for creating time-resolved soundings with the constellation of LEO satellites until hyperspectral infrared soundings are widely available from geostationary platforms.