The GEISA system in 1996: Towards an operational tool for the second generation vertical sounders radiance simulation

Since their creation, in 1974, the GEISA (Gestion et Etude des Informations Spectroscopiques Atmospheriques: Management and Study of Atmospheric Spectroscopic Information) database system (more than 730 000 entries between 0 and 22 656 cm(-1), corresponding to 40 molecules and 86 isotopic species, in its 1992 edition) and the associated software have been widely used for forward atmospheric radiative transfer modelling, with the maximum reliability, tractability and efficiency. For the upcoming high spectral resolution sounders like IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) and AIRS (Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder), more complete and accurate laboratory measurements of spectroscopic parameters, presently included in the databases, are required, and more sophisticated theoretical radiative transfer modelling should be developed. Consequently, it is intended to elaborate the GEISA database as an interactive tool, named GEISA/IASI, designed for providing spectroscopic information tailored to the IASI sounding radiative transfer modelling. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.