Abstract
In order to verify the accuracy of precipitable water vapor (PWV) in remote sensing and reanalysis datasets under different climatic conditions and ensure the reliability of analysis results, the performances of ERA-5 reanalysis PWV data and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) remotely-sensed PWV data were tested in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by using weather balloon radiosonde data from meteorological stations from 2002 to 2016. The coincidence degree of total cloud cover was also verified, and then the PWV data precision with different levels of cloud cover was analyzed. The results show that: (1) Both ERA-5 and AIRS data underestimate PWV in the studied high plateau region, and higher altitude leads to greater deviation. (2) Compared with AIRS data, ERA-5 data have better consistency with radiosonde data in PWV and total cloud cover. (3) For the long-term trend of PWV, the ERA-5 data are the opposite to the radiosonde data with a clear sky, but both datasets showed a significant increasing trend in cloudy skies. It can be concluded that in high altitude areas, the ERA-5 data can be used for general analysis, but are not well qualified to reflect the changing trend of PWV under climate change.
Highlights
Accepted: 14 October 2021Precipitable water vapor (PWV) is an important indicator of global and regional climate changes
Numerous studies have shown that Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) remote-sensed data and the fifth generation of global climate reanalysis data published by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA-5) can give sufficient variation characteristics of precipitable water vapor (PWV), temperature, and specific humidity [14,15,16,17,18]
The results show that ERA-5 data and radiosonde data have good consistency in total cloud cover, and good correspondence can be obtained when analyzing PWV with a clear sky and in cloudy conditions, respectively
Summary
Precipitable water vapor (PWV) is an important indicator of global and regional climate changes. PWV and its changes are the basis of research on radiation balance [1], cloud formation and precipitation mechanism [2], numerical weather forecasting [3], remote sensing applications [4], etc. Numerous studies have shown that Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) remote-sensed data and the fifth generation of global climate reanalysis data published by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA-5) can give sufficient variation characteristics of PWV, temperature, and specific humidity [14,15,16,17,18]. Based on the above considerations, the accuracy and applicability of AIRS and ERA-5 PWV data in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were verified and analyzed in this study, by using the radiosonde data from meteorological stations. This paper is expected to arouse more attention toward data quality, rather than availability, to guarantee that subsequent study conclusions are accurate and solid in climatic research in the plateau areas
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