Abstract
The present paper deals with the retrieval of the atmospheric layer averaged relative humidity profiles using data from the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) onboard the MetOp satellite. The retrieval has been innovatively performed by firstly retrieving humidity for pairs of thick overlapping layers (TOLs) used subsequently to derive humidity for associated thin isolated layer (TIL). A water vapour dependent (WVD) algorithm has been developed and applied to infer the humidity of TOLs. Thus, the retrieved profiles have been finally compared with standard algorithm (NORM). These algorithms have been developed based on radiative transfer simulations and study of sensitivities of MHS channels on humidity of various types of layers (TOL, TIL). The algorithm has been tested with MHS data and validated using concurrent radiosonde as well as NCEP reanalysis data indicating profile errors of ~15% and ~19%, respectively.
Highlights
Being the strongest greenhouse gas, water vapor is the most important constituents in the Earth’s atmosphere, as its spatial and temporal variations affect various meteorological phenomena like formation of clouds, development of severe storms, and global warming [1]
Retrieval has been performed for the seven thick overlapping layers (TOLs) lying between the pressure values 1000– 550 hPa, 1000–400 hPa, 850–400 hPa, 850–250 hPa, 700– 250 hPa, 700–100 hPa, and 550–100 hPa, respectively, on the basis of their sensitivity with Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) channels’ brightness temperatures
From these seven TOLs, the LARH for six thin isolated layer (TIL) lying between pressure values 1000–850 hPa, 850–700 hPa, 700–550 hPa, 550–400 hPa, 400–250 hPa, and 250–100 hPa has been derived
Summary
Being the strongest greenhouse gas, water vapor is the most important constituents in the Earth’s atmosphere, as its spatial and temporal variations affect various meteorological phenomena like formation of clouds, development of severe storms, and global warming [1]. To retrieve water vapor in a few layers over oceans or land requires a strong absorption line such that around 183.31 GHz. Profiling of the atmospheric water vapour has been made with radiometric measurements from the airborne microwave moisture sounder (AMMS) and millimeter wave Imaging radiometer (MIR) by [5, 6] to study the effects of clouds on these frequencies. The algorithm is based on the relationship between the brightness temperatures (BT) of three MHS channels and relative humidity in seven TOLs from 1000 to 100 hPa pressure values. By making use of this relationship, the retrieval of humidity profiles from MHS brightness temperature data has been validated with near simultaneous radiosonde as well as NCEP reanalysis water vapor fields
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