Welcome to the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) Web Site
The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) experiments measure naturally-occurring microwave thermal emission from the limb (edge) of Earth's atmosphere to remotely sense vertical profiles of atmospheric gases, temperature, pressure, and cloud ice. The overall objective of these experiments is to provide information that will help improve our understanding of Earth's atmosphere and global change.
The first MLS experiment in space (UARS MLS) was on NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) launched 12 Sept 1991. After March 1994, the UARS MLS measurements became increasingly intermittent due to conserving satellite power and the MLS scan mechanism lifetime. The last data were obtained on 25 August 2001 (for more information go to UARS MLS data). The second (EOS MLS) is on the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura mission launched 15 July 2004. EOS MLS began full-up atmospheric science observations on 13 August 2004, with excellent performance to date in all portions of the instrument. Data are now publicly available (for information go to EOS MLS data).
MLS cloud observations lead to model improvements
MLS has provided the first daily global observations of cloud ice, an important quantity for climate, yet one which models have historically disagreed on by as much as factors of 20. Initial comparisons of MLS cloud ice (bottom right) with the ECMWF model (top left) showed significant disagreements. Subsequent modifications to the model's parameterization of cloud processes, motivated by this comparison, led to improved agreement in the new version of the model (top right).
See a reprint of the publication this figure was adapted from
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