Is There Really a Closure Gap Between 183.31-GHz Satellite Passive Microwave and In Situ Radiosonde Water Vapor Measurements?

Oleksandr Bobryshev (1) , Stefan A. Buehler (1) , Viju John (2) , Manfred Brath (1) , Hélène Brogniez (3)

1 CEN - Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability
2 EUMETSAT - European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
3 SPACE - LATMOS

We present a new closure study between radiosonde and microwave satellite humidity measurements. The radiosonde data are from the Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper-Air Network. The satellite data are from the radiometers: MHS, Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder, and Sondeur Atmosphérique du Profil d'Humidité Intertropicale par Radiométrie. Like previous studies, we find the satellite data to be “colder” than simulated radiosonde data. But the mean bias value (0.4 K) is smaller than previously reported and, according to our analysis, not significant. The error budget suggests an uncertainty of 0.52-1.06 K. We also show that the improvement in closure can be attributed to improvements in the intercomparison methodology.

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]; Météorologie

Oleksandr Bobryshev, Stefan A. Buehler, Viju John, Manfred Brath, Hélène Brogniez. Is There Really a Closure Gap Between 183.31-GHz Satellite Passive Microwave and In Situ Radiosonde Water Vapor Measurements?. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2018, 56 (5), pp.2904 - 2910. ⟨10.1109/TGRS.2017.2786548⟩. ⟨insu-01806558⟩