Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2015, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 113-123
Comparison of satellite and radiosonde observations of troposphere humidity
A.V. Khokhlova
1 , A.O. Agurenko
1 1 Russian Scientific Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information – World Data Center, Obninsk, Russia
Radiosonde and satellite observations of precipitated water amount in the 1000-300-hPa layer are compared. The observations were made in 2013. Data from 42 upper-air stations located at 20°–70°N and 80°W–75°E and Global Telecommunication System (GTS) satellite data obtained from NOAA satellites as CATEM reports are used. Upper-air and satellite data processing and accumulation are performed by FSBI “RIHMI-WDC”. The paper presents comparison results of hourly and mean monthly data. Monthly means of precipitated water amount at moderate latitudes are shown to be in good agreement, with summer satellite observations giving a slightly larger water content than radiosonde observations. Correlation coefficients of mean monthly satellite and radiosonde data are no less than 0,95 nearly everywhere, except for the subtropical region. At subtropical and tropical latitudes, radiosonde measurements, as compared to satellite observations, show a lower water content, particularly in summer, which is also confirmed by conclusions made in the research on a regular “dry bias” of radiosonde data. However, the analysis of climatic conditions, at least for individual stations, makes one believe that it is necessary to conduct further investigations on data comparison with additional information sources involved.
Keywords: troposhere, precipitated water, satellite measurements, radiosonde measurements, comparison
Full textReferences:
- Kaznacheeva V. D., Korotkov A. P., Nagornaya T. S., Rudenkova T. V., Organizatsiya informatsionnoi bazy dannykh aerologicheskikh nablyudenii, GMBD "AEROLOGIYa" (Organization of inform data base on aerological observations, GMDB AEROLOGYA), Trudy VNIIGMI-MTsD, Obninsk: 1980, Issue 81, pp. 3–42.
- VMO No. 306, Zheneva: VMO, 2011, p. 520.
- Rudenkova T.V., Format arkhivatsii tekushchikh aerologicheskikh dannykh, postupayushchikh po kanalam svyazi dlya PEVM (Format for archiving of current aerological data incoming by communication channels for PC ), Trudy VNIIGMI-MTsD, Obninsk: 2010, Issue 174, pp. 41–63.
- Khokhlova A. V., Rudenkova T. V., Agurenko A. O., Georgieva L. A., Timofeev A. A., Sputnikovye dannye vertikal'nogo zondirovaniya atmosfery iz seti GST: tekhnologiya obrabotki i arkhivatsiya (Satellite data of vertical sounding of the atmosphere from GST: technology of processing and archiving), Trudy VNIIGMI-MTsD, Obninsk: 2014, Issue 178, pp. 61–82.
- Basha G., Ratnam M. V., Krishna Murthy B. V., Upper tropospheric water vapour variability over tropical latitudes observed using radiosonde and satellite measurements, J. Earth Syst. Sci., 2013, Vol. 122, No. 6, pp. 1583–1591.
- Dai A., Recent Climatology, Variability, and Trends in Global Surface Humidity, J. of Climate, 2006, Vol. 19, pp. 3589–3606.
- Hartmann D.L., Klein Tank A.M.G., Rusticucci M., Alexander L.V., Brönnimann S., Charabi Y., Dentener F.J., Dlugokencky E.J., Easterling D.R., Kaplan A., Soden B.J., Thorne P.W., Wild M., Zhai P.M., Observations: Atmosphere and Surface, Climate Change 2013, The Physical Science Basis, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 2013, p. 254.
- John V. O., Buehler S. A., Comparison of microwave satellite humidity data and radiosonde profiles: A survey of European stations, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2005, Vol. 5 (7), pp.1843–1853.
- Moradi I., Buehler S.A., John V.O., Comparing upper troposphere humidity from microwave satellite instruments and IGRA radiosonde data, Proceedings of 11th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment MicroRad 2010, March 2010, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 146–151.
- Moradi I., Buehler S.A., John V.O., Reale A., Ferraro R.R., Evaluating Instrumental Inhomogeneities in Global Radiosonde Upper Tropospheric Humidity Data Using Microwave Satellite Data, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2013, Vol. 51, pp. 3615–3624.
- Simmons A. J., K. Willett M., Jones P. D., Thorne P. W., Dee D. P., Low-frequency variations in surface atmospheric humidity, temperature, and precipitation: Inferences from reanalyses and monthly gridded observational data sets, J. Geophys. Res., 2010, Vol. 115, D01110.
- Schröder M., Roca R., Picon L., Kniffka A., Brogniez H., Climatology of free-tropospheric humidity: extension into the SEVIRI era, evaluation and exemplary analysis, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2014, Vol. 14, pp. 11129–11148.