Abstract
In the microwaves the radiation temperature at top of the atmosphere, T T , is sensitive to the vertical distribution of cloud water in the atmosphere. As in the thermal infrared the temperature dependence of the blackbody radiation causes decreasing contributions to T T by clouds, when they are moved to higher (colder) levels in the atmosphere. Unlike in the thermal infrared there exists a rather strong temperature dependence of the absorption coefficient of water, which counteracts this behaviour in the frequency range below approximately 100 GHz. With radiative transfer calculations using vertically homogeneous clouds we show the influence of cloud-top height on T T for the frequency range covered by satellite microwave radiometers designed for humidity retrieval. A study with measured profiles of temperature and water-vapour content and modelled clouds results in only minor correlations between the error in retrieved water-vapour content and liquid water, and the cloud position. An algorithm to determine the vertical cloud position is proposed.
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