Improved Spatial Distribution and Trends of Clouds Observed with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Clouds are an important component of the Earth's radiation budget. Depending on their height and type they can either cool or warm the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Therefore it is important to have an accurate determination of cloud properties and where they are located to understand how Earth's climate is changing. The CO2 climatology used in the AIRS Version 5 retrieval algorithm assumes the CO2 abundance increases linearly with time but it neglects seasonal and spatial variations. Although a simple linearly varying CO2 climatology can remove spurious year-to-year trends it can cause spurious seasonal and spatial variations. We show that an improved CO2 climatology improves the retrieved AIRS cloud height and fraction. We also estimate the uncertainty in the AIRS Version 5 cloud parameters due to the simple CO2 climatology.