Biases and Bias Trends of AIRS Version 6 Temperature Profile Retrievals vs Operational Radiosondes

Version 6 of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) vertical temperature profiles are compared against radiosonde observations in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) quality-controlled final observation (PREPQC) data files. Biases in the AIRS V6 data product have been reduced compared to Version 5, and, with exceptions, tend to be within +/- 1 K of the radiosonde data on a zonally-averaged basis. Comparing V5 and V6 AIRS results from 2004 to 2010 inclusive, we find significantly reduced temporal trends in the bias, with V6 bias trends to be mostly within +/- 0.05 K/yr. Reduction of the bias and bias trends in the southern polar region remains a challenge.