Intercomparison of Total Precipitable Water Derived From COSMIC-2 and Three Different Microwave Radiometers Over the Ocean

Abstract

Total precipitable water (TPW) values derived from Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2) are compared with those derived from Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI), and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR-2) over the ocean from October 1, 2019 to February 16, 2020. The overall comparison results indicate that TPW values derived from SSMIS, AMSR-2, and GMI have a good correlation and agreement with COSMIC-2 TPW values with the correlation coefficients greater than 0.99 and root mean square (rms) no greater than 2.7 mm. We compare TPW derived from three different microwave radiometers with COSMIC-2 TPW over the subtropical and tropical oceans. The differences illustrate that TPW values derived from three different microwave radiometers are more consistent with COSMIC-2 TPW values over the subtropical ocean than those over the tropical ocean. In addition, we also analyze the relationship between the TPW retrieval accuracy derived from three different microwave radiometers and environmental factors, including cloud, rain rate, wind speed, and surface temperature. The results indicate that four environmental factors have an important influence on the TPW retrieval from three different microwave radiometers.