Interactive comment on “Characterization of model errors in the calculation of tangent heights for atmospheric infrared limb measurements” by M. Ridolfi and L. Sgheri

Characterization of model errors in the calculation of tangent heights for atmospheric infrared limb measurements

We review the main factors driving the calculation of the tangent height of spaceborne limb measurements: the ray-tracing method, the refractive index model and the assumed atmosphere. We find that commonly used ray tracing and refraction models are very accurate, at least in the midinfrared. The factor with largest effect in the tangent height calculation is the assumed atmosphere. Using a cli...

Spatial and temporal characterization of SCIAMACHY limb pointing errors during the first three years of the mission

Limb scattering retrievals of atmospheric minor constituent profiles require highly accurate knowledge of the tangent heights during the measurements. The limb scattering measurements of the Scanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CartograpHY (SCIAMACHY) on Envisat are affected by tangent height errors of up to 2 km. This contribution provides a summary of the temporal and spat...

Iterative approach to self-adapting and altitude-dependent regularization for atmospheric profile retrievals.

In this paper we present the IVS (Iterative Variable Strength) method, an altitude-dependent, self-adapting Tikhonov regularization scheme for atmospheric profile retrievals. The method is based on a similar scheme we proposed in 2009. The new method does not need any specifically tuned minimization routine, hence it is more robust and faster. We test the self-consistency of the method using si...

Characterization of the tangent height errors

Interactive comment on “Vertical mixing in atmospheric tracer transport models: error characterization and propagation” by C. Gerbig

This paper deals with an important but often overlooked issue in inverse modeling: characterization of errors in the modeling components. Vertical mixing has long been recognized as a key uncertainty in this field, making this paper very relevant for a wide range of readers. The analysis presents an interesting view of observed and modeled mixed layer heights which is then used to first quantif...