TES is an imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer observing the thermal emission of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, night and day. TES will measure tropospheric ozone directly and other gases important to tropospheric pollution with very high horizontal resolution. TES has a higher spatial resolution than OMI, but with less coverage. Satellite tropospheric chemical observations are difficult to make due to the presence of clouds. To overcome this problem, TES was designed to observe both downward (in the nadir) and horizontally (across the limb). This observation capability provides measurements of the entire lower atmosphere, from the surface to the stratosphere. NASA's JPL developed, built, tested, and will operate TES. The TES primary objective is to measure trace gases associated with air quality.

Objectives

TES will measure the distribution of gases in the troposphere. TES will provide simultaneous measurements of tropospheric ozone and key gases involved in tropospheric ozone chemistry, such as CH4, NO2, HNO3 and CO. The obtained data will be used to improve regional ozone pollution models and furthermore to measure air quality. Also it will measure tropospheric water vapor, methane, ozone and aerosols, all of which are relevant to climate change. Additional gases important to climate change can be retrieved from the TES spectra. TES limb measurements extend from the Earth's surface to the middle stratosphere. As a result, TES's high resolution spectra will allow scientists to make measurements of some additional stratospheric constituents that compliment the HIRDLS and MLS measurements.

Instrument

TES has significantly more the spectral resolution of the AIRS instrument. It employs both the natural thermal emission of the surface and atmosphere and reflected sunlight, thereby providing day-night coverage anywhere on the globe.It operates in a combination of limb and nadir mode (called global survey mode) every other. On alternate days, TES does special observations including "step and stare" mode and assessment of special targets like volcanoes.

TES is a high-resolution, infrared, imaging Fourier-transform spectrometer with spectral coverage of 650 to 2250 cm^-1 at a spectral resolution of 0.1 cm^-1 (low resolution) or 0.025 cm^-1 (high resolution), offering line-width-limited discrimination of essentially all radiatively active molecular species in Earth's lower atmosphere.

Data Access

TES data will be distributed through the Distributed Active Archive Center at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC DAAC). On this site you will find documentations, tools and links to obtain data. TES data will also be accessible from NASA's Earth Observing System Data Gateway.

The Aura Platform

The Aura spacecraft was successfully launched on July 15, 2004 aboard a Delta II 7920-10L, a two stage expendable rocket, from the Vandenberg Western Test Range. The mission hosts a suite of scientific instruments designed to make the most comprehensive measurements ever undertaken of trace gases in the environment that surrounds earth. The satellite's orbit will allow measurements to be taken at all latitudes; instruments will make continuous scans at altitudes ranging from the stratosphere down through the troposphere. EOS Aura is the third in a series of major Earth observing satellites to study the environment and climate change and is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The first and second missions, Terra and Aqua, are designed to study the land, oceans, and the Earth's radiation budget.

The satellite carries four state-of-the-art instruments:

• High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS)
• Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS)
• Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)
• Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)

Links

• TES Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
• EOS-Aura Project
• The Earth Observatory website

Contact

If you would like to have more information about the TES data, please contact wdc@dlr.de.