Latitudinal distribution of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio in the atmospheric water vapor retrieved from IMG/ADEOS data

Abstract

Latitudinal distribution of the columnar deuterium/hydrogen ratio of atmospheric water vapor, δ D vap , was retrieved from high‐resolution infrared spectra. Interferometric Monitor for Greenhouse gases (IMG) sensor aboard the ADvanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) observed the spectra over the ocean during the operational period from December 1996 through June 1997. The latitudinal mean δ D vap was relatively large with values around −100‰ in the tropical region decreasing down to minimal values of −800‰ at high latitudes. For retrieving δ D vap , a type of spectral fitting method was adopted using a forward/retrieval calculation code developed by Gribanov et al. [2001] . This method is expected to be applicable for data analyses of future satellite sensors such as IASI and TES.