Radiance-based Retrieval Bias Mitigation for the MOPITT Instrument: The Version 8 Product

Abstract. The MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) satellite instrument has been making nearly continuous observations of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) since 2000. Satellite observations of CO are routinely used to analyze emissions from fossil fuels and biomass burning, and the atmospheric transport of those emissions. Recent enhancements to the MOPITT retrieval algorithm have resulted in the release of the Version 8 (V8) product. V8 products benefit from updated spectroscopic data for water vapor and nitrogen used to develop the operational radiative transfer model and exploit a new method for minimizing retrieval biases through parameterized radiance bias correction. Validation results illustrate clear improvements with respect to long-term bias drift and geographically variable retrieval bias.