L. Larrabee Strow, Department of Physics and Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET), S. Hannon, JCET, Sergio De-Souza Machado, JCET and Physics, Breno Imbiriba, JCET, and Paul Schou, JCET

Hyperspectral infrared satellite sounders are now flying on NASA's Aqua platform (AIRS) and on the European EUMETSAT/METOP platform (IASI). These sensor provide global measurements of the earth's outgoing radiance twice/day, and are routinely used for weather forecasting. In addition, the US NPOESS/NPP hyperspectral sounder should launch in 2010. We are funded by 3 different agencies (NASA/NOAA/IPO) to help develop the sensor hardware (AIRS and CrIS) and to validate these sensor's performance. Our main scientific goal is the use these sensor to measure various climate forcings, namely global CO2 growth rates and mineral dust variability, along with other trace gas and cloud variability.