Inter-Annual Variability of Atmospheric Water Vapor as seen from the TOVS Pathfinder Path a Data Set

The atmospheric water vapor is a major greenhouse gas and plays a critical role in determining energy and water cycle in the climate system. A new, global, long-term (1985-98) water vapor data set derived from the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) Path A system will be introduced in the presentation. An assessment of the accuracy of the TOVS Path A water vapor data will he presented. The focus of this oral presentation will be on the inter-annual variability of the water vapor distribution in the atmosphere. Also, water vapor distribution observed during 1997/98 ENSO event will be shown.