BADC Doc: Indexed MLS documentation
Source: environment.data.gov.uk (2018-06-19)

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Vertical profiles of Atmospheric Components from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS L3) Instrument and NERC Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) Prototype Water Vapour Data. The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) is a satellite-borne instrument making limb sounding measurements of atmospheric composition at microwave frequencies. It was built by an instrument team based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) on the 12th September 1991. It began collecting data on 19th September 1991. The PI was Joe Waters.

The instrument measures thermal emission from the Earth's limb, from which vertical profiles of chlorine monoxide (ClO), ozone (O3), water vapour (H2O) sulphur dioxide (SO2) and atmospheric temperature are derived. HNO3 profiles are also available for some periods in the Version 4 data.

The data coverage extends from 80°S to 80°N, but at any one time this is restricted to 34°S to 80°N or 34°N to 80°S. In the vertical, measurements are made between approximately 10 and 60 km, from October 1991 to June 1997.

Also available as part of this archive are the prototype water vapour profiles from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) data, retrieved at the University of Edinburgh (NERC funded project). Data generally cover wider altitude range than "official" MLS version 4 retrievals and are available at a higher vertical resolution. Coverage is from September 1991 to April 1993.

MLS Documentation

BADC and MLS team documents on the MLS instrument.

BADC Documentation

The BADC MLS Help File (mlshelp.html)

Contains a science overview on the MLS instrument and data. It identifies the species which are measured and outlines the coverage and resolution of the data. Most of the information is distilled from the UARS standard formatted data unit (SFDU) documents listed below, and you will need to look at these if you want to use the data in earnest.

Information on acquiring and using MLS data (mlshelp.html#Transfer)

Provides help on technical aspects of using the MLS data held at the BADC: acquiring and unpacking of the data, how to find and use the access software to read the files and where to look for 3rd party software.

Instrument Team Documentation

The following are the UARS standard Formatted Data Unit (SFDU) documents provided by the MLS instrument team.

MLS Whole Dataset SFDU (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_whole_dset_v4.sfdu)

Provides an overview of the MLS objectives and the design of the instrument. It gives a list of the parameters which are measures and pointers to other documents which contain more detailed information about the data products and their use.

MLS Quality Version 4 (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_quality_l3_v4.doc)

Gives an overview of issues affecting data quality in the Version 4 MLS data.

MLS Level 3AL SFDU (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_l3al_v4.sfdu)

Gives a detailed file format for the MLS level 3AL data set. This data set is held at the BADC.

MLS Level 3AT SFDU (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_l3at_v4.sfdu)

Provides a detailed file format for the MLS level 3AT data set. This data set is held at the BADC.

MLS Level 3LP SFDU (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_l3lp_v4.sfdu)

Gives a detailed file format for the MLS level 3LP data set. This data set is held at the BADC.

MLS Level 3TP SFDU (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_l3tp_v4.sfdu)

Provides a detailed file format for the MLS level 3TP data set. This data set is held at the BADC.

MLS Level 2 SFDU (/cgi-bin/data_browser/data_browser/badc/mlsl3/doc/mls_l2_v4.sfdu)

Provides a detailed file format for the MLS level 2 data set. This data set is not held at the BADC.