Effects of vertical distribution of water vapor and temperature on total column water vapor retrieval error
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis (United States)
The author looks at the systematic error introduced into the extraction of total column water vapor from the special sensor microwave/imager (SSM/I) by means of the Wentz retrieval algorithm. As part of this algorithm the parameters of globally averaged temperature and water vapor profiles are estimated from in situ data. It is known that the vertical structures of temperature and water vapor are not uniform globally. This variation can cause systematic errors in the retrieval of relevant data from the raw data. Here the author investigates the influence of using monthly mean vertical temperature and water vapor profiles from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, in contrast to the global average values used by Wentz. For 70% of the global ocean area the errors are within 0.1 g cm[sup [minus]2]. Regions are identified where larger biases are introduced because of temperature structures, wind effects, and the presence of large amounts of water vapor.
- OSTI ID:
- 6338631
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 98:C4; ISSN 0148-0227
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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