MICADO wind measurements from Observatoire de Haute-Provence for the validation of WINDII green line data

Gérard Thuillier (1) , Vincent Fauliot (1) , Michel Hersé (1) , Ludovic Bourg (1) , G. G. Shepherd (2)

1 SA - Service d'aéronomie
2 CRESS - Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science [Toronto]

The WINDII instrument measures the velocity of the meridional and zonal components of the wind as a function of altitude using a Michelson interferometer. Such an instrument is calibrated in the laboratory before launch. For several reasons, it is important to compare the WINDII data with other independent measurements. This should allow the confirmation of either the accuracy of the space measurements, the detection of some systematic offset, or an aging as a function of time. The MICADO interferometer has been running since the beginning of the UARS mission at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (France). The data provided by this instrument are used to perform this study. For nighttime measurements, no aging has been detected and it is found that WINDII overestimates the two components of the wind by 10 m s⁻¹ at the latitude and longitude of the ground-based observations. This corresponds to an offset of 9 m s⁻¹ for both fields of view. Amplitude and phase of the semidiurnal tide have also been derived from the WINDII and MICADO data as a function of season. Comparable results were obtained.

Domains: Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]

Gérard Thuillier, Vincent Fauliot, Michel Hersé, Ludovic Bourg, G. G. Shepherd. MICADO wind measurements from Observatoire de Haute-Provence for the validation of WINDII green line data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1996, 101 (D6), pp.10431-10440. ⟨10.1029/95JD03522⟩. ⟨insu-01627407⟩