Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2026, V. 23, No. 4, pp. 406-416
Ratio of atmospheric moisture content to surface air temperature in the coastal zone of the central part of Lake Baikal
M.G. Dembelov 1 , A.V. Lukhnev 2 1 Institute of Physical Materials Science SB RAS, Ulan-Ude, Russia
2 Institute of the Earth’s Crust SB RAS, Irkutsk, Irkutsk, Russia
Accepted: 16.06.2026
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2026-23-4-406-416
The article examines meteorological and GPS (Global Positioning System) data to study the relationship between total tropospheric moisture content and surface air temperature at the new MKSM (Maksimikha) permanent GPS observation site located in the central part of the coastal zone of Lake Baikal. Acceleration of global warming is primarily due to an increase in atmospheric water vapor that is the primary greenhouse gas. Twenty years of continuous meteorological observations have shown a rate of change in total moisture content of +0.71 mm per decade, as well as a change in surface air temperature of approximately +1.05 °C per decade. To calculate the moisture content level using GPS data, a linear regression was found between the ratio of the weighted average temperature in a conventional vertical column to the surface air temperature, obtained from the results of radio soundings at the Ust-Barguzin meteorology and aerology station for the period from 2012 to 2025. The relationship between the total moisture content of the atmosphere, obtained from GPS measurements above the MKSM station, and the surface air temperature for the period 2022–2025 showed that the most significant increase in this ratio is observed during the transitional seasons of spring and autumn. At temperatures from –30 to +17 °C, the average deviation between the average PW (Precipitable Water) values from GPS observations and the PW values for saturated vapor (Clausius–Clapeyron line) is 1.9 mm. Upon reaching a temperature of +17 °C, a significant decrease in the growth rate of the average moisture content is observed. At temperatures of +20 °C and above, this indicator stabilizes at around 28 mm.
Keywords: total moisture content, GPS measurements, meteorological data, radiosonde measurements, Baikal zone
Full textReferences:
- Kashkin V. B., Vladimirov V. M., Klykov A. O., Zenith tropospheric delay of GLONASS/GPS signals on the basis of ATOVS satellite data, Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics, 2015, V. 28, No. 1, pp. 68–73, DOI: 10.1134/S1024856015010066.
- San’kov V. A., Lukhnev A. V., Miroshnichenko A. I. et al., Extension in the Baikal rift: Present-day kinematics of passive rifting, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2009, V. 425, pp. 205–209, DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X09020056.
- Bevis M., Businger S., Chriswell S. et al., GPS meteorology: Mapping zenith wet delays onto precipitable water, J. Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 1994, V. 33, pp. 379–386, DOI: 10.1175/1520-0450(1994)033<0379:GMMZWD>2.0.CO;2.
- Dai A., Recent climatology, variability, and trends in global surface humidity, J. Climate, 2006, V. 19, pp. 3589–3606, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI3816.1.
- Essen L., Froome K. D., The refractive indices and dielectric constants of air and its principal constituents at 24,000 Mc/s, Proc. Physical Soc. Section B, 1951, V. 64, pp. 862–875, DOI: 10.1088/0370-1301/64/10/303.
- Groisman P. Y., Knight R. W., Easterling D. R. et al., Trends in intense precipitation in the climate record, J. Climate, 2005, V. 18, pp. 1236–1251, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI3339.1.
- Haase J., Ge M., Vendel H., Calais E., Accuracy and variability of GPS tropospheric delay measurements of water vapor in the Western Mediterranean, J. Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 2003, V. 42, pp. 1547–1568, DOI: 10.1175/1520-0450(2003)042<1547:AAVOGT>2.0.CO;2.
- Hopfield H. S., Two quartic tropospheric refractivity profile for correcting satellite data, J. Geophysical Research, 1969, V. 74(18), pp. 4487–4499, DOI: 10.1029/JC074i018p04487.
- Khaniani A. S., Motieyan H., Mohammadi A., Rainfall forecast based on GPS PWV together with meteorological parameters using neural network models, J. Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 2021, V. 214, Article 105533, DOI: 10.1016/j.jastp.2020.105533.
- Lukhneva O. F., Dembelov M. G., Lukhnev A. V., The determination of atmospheric water content by the meteorological and GPS data, Geodynamics and Tectonophysics, 2016, V. 7, pp. 545–553, DOI: 10.5800/GT-2016-7-4-0222.
- Numaguti A., Origin and recycling processes of precipitating water over the Eurasian continent: experiments using an atmospheric general circulation model, J. Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1999, V. 104, pp. 1957–1972, DOI: 10.1029/1998JD200026.
- Ren D., Wang Y., Wang G., Liu L., Rising trends of global precipitable water vapor and its correlation with flood frequency, Geodesy and Geodynamics, 2023, V. 14, pp. 355–367, DOI: 10.1016/j.geog.2022.12.001.
- Trenberth K. E., Fasullo J., Smith L., Trends and variability in column-integrated atmospheric water vapor, Climate Dynamics, 2005, V. 24, pp. 741–758, DOI: 10.1007/s00382-005-0017-4.
- Vedel H., Huang X.-Y., Impact of ground based GPS data on numerical weather prediction, J. Meteorological Soc. of Japan, 2004, V. 82, No. 1B, pp. 459–472, DOI: 10.2151/jmsj.2004.459.
- Zhao Q., Zhang X., Wu K. et al., Comprehensive precipitable water vapor retrieval and application platform based on various water vapor detection techniques, Remote Sensing, 2022, V. 14, Article 2507, DOI: 10.3390/rs14102507.
- Zhao L., Cui M., Song J., An improved strategy for real-time troposphere estimation and its application in the severe weather event monitoring, Atmosphere, 2023, V. 14(1), Article 46, DOI: 10.3390/atmos14010046.
- Zhou X., Cheng Y., Liu L. et al., Significant increases in water vapor pressure correspond with climate warming globally, Water, 2023, V. 15, Article 3219, DOI: 10.3390/w15183219.
- Zhou L., Cao Y., Shi C. et al., Quantifying the atmospheric water balance closure over mainland China using ground-based, satellite, and reanalysis datasets, Atmosphere, 2024, V. 15(4), Article 497, DOI: 10.3390/atmos15040497.