Study of cloud liquid water path and total precipitable water from irs-p4/msmr and numerical weather prediction model output

Abstract

A global weather analysis-forecast system is used to produce six hourly analysis of meteorological fields at roughly 150 km × 150 km resolution at the National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF). In this paper, we have studied the Total Precipitable Water Content (TPWC) and Cloud Liquid Water Path (CLWP) derived from the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS-P4) Satellite over the Indian Ocean region in relation to operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) model analysis and short-range forecasts. An objective analysis was carried out by introducing the observations of CLWP, TPWC and their values (six hour forecasts) from the T80 model as the first guess, for a 20 days period of August 1999 using the standard Cressman’s technique. The reanalysis could capture the signature of TPWC and CLWP data from IRS-P4 satellite. In general the observed values of TPWC and CLWP from IRS-P4 have a positive bias compared to NCMRWF analysis over the region where the satellite passed. The CLWP values have been compared with Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) products from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. Results indicate that the model derived CLWP values were within acceptable limits, whereas the observations from the Multi-channel Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) showed slightly larger values.