Radiosonde‐based trends in precipitable water over the Northern Hemisphere: An update

Abstract

In an effort to update previous analyses of long‐term changes in column‐integrated water vapor, we have analyzed trends in surface‐to‐500‐hPa precipitable water (PW) calculated from radiosonde measurements of dew point depression, temperature, and pressure at approximately 300 stations in the Northern Hemisphere for the period 1973–2006. Inhomogeneities were addressed by applying a homogenization algorithm that adjusts for both documented and undocumented change points. The trends of the adjusted PW time series are predominantly upward, with a statistically significant trend of 0.45 mm decade−1 for the Northern Hemisphere land areas included in the analysis. Particularly significant increases are found in all seasons over the islands of the western tropical Pacific, and trends are also positive and statistically significant for the year as a whole and in at least one season in Japan and the United States. These results indicate that the widespread increases in tropospheric water vapor, which earlier studies had reported and shown to be physically consistent with concurrent increases in temperature and changes in moisture transport, have continued in recent years.