Layer Precipitable Water (LPW) Briefing

Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) provides soundings of specific humidity from a variety of instruments and is combined with AIRS infrared soundings to create a Layered Precipitable Water (LPW) composite product. The LPW provides vertical moisture information in the column instead of just upper levels via WV imagery, or a single column value via TPW products. LPW is created every 3 hours using the last 12 hours worth of data and has a delivery latency of 40 minutes. Weaknesses include discontinuities in the composite. Strengths include seeing through clouds, over land usage, and greater spatial coverage of vertical moisture profiles. Applications of LPW include analysis of horizontal and vertical moisture gradients, verification of NWP moisture, and analysis of atmospheric rivers and other moisture advection. Operational testbed is ongoing to determine viability of wider distribution.