Algorithm Stability and the Long-Term Geospace Data Record from TIMED/SABER | CU Experts

The ability of satellite instruments to accurately observe long-term; changes in atmospheric temperature depends on many factors including the; absolute accuracy of the measurement, the stability of the calibration; of the instrument, the stability of the satellite orbit, and the; stability of the numerical algorithm that produces the temperature data.; We present an example of algorithm instability recently discovered in; the temperature dataset from the SABER instrument on the NASA TIMED; satellite. The instability resulted in derived temperatures that were; substantially colder than anticipated from mid-December 2019 to; mid-2022. This algorithm-induced change in temperature over one to two; years corresponded to the expected change over several decades from; increasing anthropogenic CO2. This paper highlights the importance of; algorithm stability in developing Geospace Data Records (GDRs) for; Earth’s mesosphere and lower thermosphere. A corrected version (Version; 2.08) of the temperatures from SABER is described.

Mlynczak MG; Marshall BT; Garcia RR; Hunt LA; Yue J; Harvey VL; Puertas ML; Mertens CJ; Russell JM; Pepe A

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