MIPAS retrievals of nitric oxide

Northern winter (DJF) composite of NO distributions retrieved from MIPAS middle atmosphere mode measurements (Funke et al., 2023). The white area represents data with insignificant information content. Polar winter subsidence is clearly visible.

The retrieval of NO requires consideration of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium processes. IMK provides data recorded not only in the nominal measurement mode but also in the Middle Atmosphere and Upper Atmosphere measurement modes. The latter one requires the joint retrieval of thermospheric temperature. The data come with error estimates compliant with the TUNER (Towards Unified Error Reporting) recommendations.