MIPAS WATER VAPOUR MIXING RATIO AND TEMPERATURE VALIDATION BY RAMAN-MIE-RAYLEIGH LIDAR

Water vapor mixing ratio and temperature profiles carried out by a Raman-Mie-Rayleigh lidar have been used for the validation of the MIPAS instrument on board of ENVISAT. The measurements have been performed at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the Italian National Research Council (ISAC-CNR) in Rome-Tor Vergata. Measurement sessions were carried out during the years 2002 and 2003, and some at the beginning of 2004. The lidar records in coincidence with ENVISAT overpasses were 20, but only 4 comparisons with MIPAS 4.61 version have been possible up to now, because the reprocessing of the MIPAS data for 2003 is still in progress. The lidar profiles are complemented by radiosonde observations. In the altitude range where the lidar profile overlaps MIPAS, no marked differences were found in the water vapor mixing ratio. From the tropopause up, MIPAS data appear being generally lower than lidar and radiosonde values. The comparison of the temperature shows some differences mostly close to the stratopause, where the MIPAS data appear systematically lower than the lidar ones.