HIRDLS Mission:
Cora Randall—A number of LASP atmospheric scientists, including Linnea Avallone, Lynn Harvey, Mike Mills, Cora Randall, Dave Rusch, and Brian Toon, are involved with the NASA HIRDLS (High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder) instrument that is onboard the Aura satellite. This instrument was designed to measure global, high vertical resolution profiles of many trace gases, aerosols and temperature from the tropopause to the mesosphere. Unfortunately, shortly after launch in July of 2004, it was determined that a piece of Kapton insulating material had apparently broken loose and was draped over the instrument scanning mirror. Numerous maneuvers were undertaken to attempt to move the material, to no avail. Therefore, efforts over the past year have focused on understanding signal contamination caused by the Kapton in order to retrieve scientifically valid information. We are pleased to report that these efforts have met with considerable success, and accurate profiles of ozone and temperature, as well as detections of polar stratospheric clouds, are now being measured. The HIRDLS team presented its most recent results to NASA Headquarters at the end of September, and received a green light (and funding) to continue data processing and efforts to further improve the retrievals in order to produce profiles of other trace constituents.