Characterization of upper troposphere water vapor measurements during AFWEX using LASE.

Conference · Mon Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-1652.1· OSTI ID:799813

Ferrare, R A; Browell, E V; Ismail, I; Kooi, S; Brasseur, L H; Brackett, V G; Clayton, M; Barrick, J; Bosenberg, J; Diskin, G; Goldsmith, J; Lesht, B; Podolske, J; Sachse, G; Schmidlin, F J; Turner, D; Whitemann, D

Water vapor profiles from NASA's Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) system acquired during the ARM/FIRE Water Vapor Experiment (AFWEX) are used to characterize upper troposphere (UT) water vapor measured by ground-based Raman lidars, radiosondes, and in situ aircraft sensors. Initial comparisons showed the average Vaisala radiosonde measurements to be 5-15% drier than the average LASE, Raman lidar, and DC-8 in situ diode laser hygrometer measurements. They show that corrections to the Raman lidar and Vaisala measurements significantly reduce these differences. Precipitable water vapor (PWV) derived from the LASE water vapor profiles agrees within 3% on average with PWV derived from the ARM ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR). The agreement among the LASE, Raman lidar, and MWR measurements demonstrates how the LASE measurements can be used to characterize both profile and column water vapor measurements and that ARM Raman lidar, when calibrated using the MWR PWV, can provide accurate UT water vapor measurements.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 799813
• Report Number(s): ANL/ER/CP-108187
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIRCRAFT
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
LASERS
OPTICAL RADAR
RADIOMETERS
REMOTE SENSING
TROPOSPHERE
WATER VAPOR