The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) MIPAS is a Fourier transform spectrometer for the detection of limb emission spectra in the middle and upper atmosphere. It observes a wide spectral interval throughout the mid infrared with high spectral resolution. Operating in a wavelength range from 4.15 microns to 14.6 microns, MIPAS detects and spectrally resolves a large number of emission features of atmospheric minor constituents playing a major role in atmospheric chemistry. Due to its spectral resolution capabilities and low-noise performance, the detected features can be spectroscopically identified and used as input to suitable algorithms for extracting atmospheric concentration profiles of a number of target species.
MIPAS: New ESA Level 1b processors operational 28 January 2010
26 January 2010
A new version of the MIPAS Level 1b operational processor (IPF) is close to be activated in the ESA Ground Segment.
It is foreseen to switch the new IPF 5.02 in the NRT processing centers (Kiruna and ESRIN) on 28 January 2010. The IPF 5.02 will also be switched in the off-line processing center (D-PAC) about one week later. Full mission re-processing with IPF 5.02 will start at D-PAC following the operational switch and it is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2010.
The switch to the new MIPAS Level 1b processor includes an updated format of the output Level 1b products. Therefore, please make sure that you update your tools before the switch.
The upgrades in the Level 1b products for this new version include:
Truncation of the Interferogram to 8.0 cm in order to avoid under-sampling the spectrum for the Optimized Resolution mission
Improved Level 1b engineering heights calculation
Calculation of the quadratic terms for spectral calibration that are provided in the output products
Additional fields in the Level 1b products, such as the auxiliary L0 data packets that provide information about house keeping data
A first scientific validation of the IPF 5.02 Level 1b output has been completed, based on the processing of about 4000 orbits of the validation dataset. The validation showed that the new IPF improves Level 1b engineering height calculation with resulting reduction of the final chi square in the Level 2 scientific retrieval algorithm.
The updated Product Specification that accounts for the new format of the MIPAS IPF 5.02 Level 1b products is available at this link.
The BEAT Software version 6.2.0 has already been aligned to the new Specification. This tool can be downloaded here.
The BEAT data dictionary corresponding to the new L1b product format can be found at this link.
EO Data Access
