On the generation of atmospheric property Jacobians from the (V)LIDORT linearized radiative transfer models

•Derivation of level Jacobians from layer VLIDORT Jacobian output.•Temperature-shift, surface-pressure and VMR scaling Jacobians.•Parameterization of aerosol loading profiles and associated parameter Jacobians.•Linearization of HITRAN-based line-by-line absorption calculation.

The linearized radiative transfer models VLIDORT and LIDORT will deliver profile weighting functions (Jacobians) with respect to layer optical properties. We derive transformation rules for the conversion of layer Jacobian output to weighting functions defined for level (layer boundary) quantities such as volume mixing ratio, temperature and pressure. In a related development, we discuss the derivation of bulk-property atmospheric Jacobians with respect to quantities such as the temperature shift, the surface pressure and scaling parameters for constituent profiles. We also present some rules for calculating Jacobians for parameters characterizing aerosol loading regimes. An appendix contains linearization (with respect to temperature and pressure) of the trace species cross-sections derived from the HITRAN line spectroscopy data base.