Abstract
The data from the B2 channel of the Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (SAMS), flown on Nimbus 7, were intended to provide water vapour cross‐sections ranging from 45°S—65°N in latitude and from 30–65 km in altitude. However, anomalous cross‐sections obtained by Mutlow [1984] suggest that the in‐flight transmittance behaviour of the SAMS B2 channel was different from that expected. As a result a two‐stage retrieval process has been developed to obtain both an improved estimate of the transmittance behaviour of the channel, and the required water vapour cross‐sections. The water vapour cross‐sections obtained over the three‐year period from January 1979–December 1981, clearly show the presence of a mid to high latitude summer maximum in water vapour at ∼5‐10 mb (∼30–35 km), a poleward decrease in volume mixing ratios below ∼10 mb (∼30 km) in the winter hemisphere, a secondary maximum in the summer hemisphere at ∼0.1 mb (∼65 km) in the lower mesosphere, and a less distinct equatorial minimum at ∼10 mb (∼30 km). However, the latter has not been shown to be statistically significant in this analysis.
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