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Water Vapor Profiling From CoSSIR Radiometric MeasurementsPrevious millimeter-wave radiometry for water vapor profiling, by either airborne or satellite sensors, has been limited to frequencies less than or equal to 183 GHz. The retrievals are generally limited to an altitude range of 0-10 km. The additional measurements at the frequencies of 380.2 plus or minus 0.8, 380.2 plus or minus 1.8, 380.2 plus or minus 3.3, and 380.2 plus or minus 6.2 GHz provided by the new airborne Compact Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSSIR) can extend this profiling capability up to an altitude of about 15 km. Furthermore, the retrievals can be performed over both land and water surfaces in the tropics without much difficulty. These properties are demonstrated by recent CoSSIR measurements on board the NASA WB-57 aircraft during CR-AVE in January 2006. Retrievals of water vapor mixing ratio were performed at eight altitude levels of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 km from CoSSIR data sets acquired at observational angles of 0 and 53.4 degrees, and the results were compared with other available measurements from the same aircraft and near-concurrent satellites. A comparison of the variations of mixing ratios retrieved from CoSSIR and those derived from the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) in the aircraft vicinity, along the path of the transit flight on January 14, 2006, appears to show some connection, although the measurements were referring to different altitudes. A very good agreement was found between the collocated values of total precipitable water derived from the CoSSIR-retrieved water vapor profiles and those estimated from TMI (TRMM Microwave Imager)
Document ID
20070018179
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Wang, J. R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Chang, L. A.
Monosmith, B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Zhang, Z.
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2007
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting
Location: San Francisco, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: December 11, 2006
End Date: December 16, 2006
Sponsors: American Geophysical Union
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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