The MOPITT Version 6 product: Algorithm enhancements and validation

V6 algorithm improvements are described in detail, and V6 validation results are presented. First, a geolocation bias related to the orientation of the MOPITT instrument relative to the TERRA platform was characterized and eliminated.

Second, the variable a priori for CO concentrations for V6 is based on simulations performed with the chemical transport model Community Atmosphere Model with Chemistry (CAM-chem) for the years 2000–2009 instead of the model-derived climatology for 1997-2004 used for V5. Third, meteorological fields required for V6 retrieval processing are extracted from the MERRA (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis For Research And Applications) reanalysis.