One of major challenges facing Earth's science in the next
decade and beyondis the development of an accurate long
term observational data set to study global change. To
accomplish this, a wide range of observations will be
required to provide both new measurements, not previously
achievable and measurements with a greater degreee of
accuracy and resolution than the ones which are presently
and currently available.
Among the parameters that are currently retrieved from
satellite vertical sounding observations, temperature and
moisture profiles are the most important for the description
of the thermodynamic state of the medium. Other parameters,
like those describing the cloud fields, the surface state or
the conditions close to the surface are also key parameters
for meteorology and climatology.
A new generation of high spectral atmospheric sounders in
the infrared has recently been designed to provide both new
and more accurate data about the atmosphere, land and oceans
for application to climate studies. Among the important
observations that these instruments should contribute to the
climate data set are day and night global measurements of:
atmospheric temperature profiles; relative humidity
profiles; cloud field parameters; total ozone burden of the
atmosphere; distribution of minor atmospehric gases
(methane, carbonmonoxide and nitrous oxide).