Remote sensing of precipitable water vapour and cloud cover for site selection of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) using MERIS

Author(s):  
H. Kurlandczyk ◽  
M. Sarazin
2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (4) ◽  
pp. 4910-4920
Author(s):  
A Turchi ◽  
E Masciadri ◽  
P Pathak ◽  
M Kasper

ABSTRACT In this article, we present the first results ever obtained by applying the autoregressive (AR) technique to precipitable water vapour (PWV). The study is performed at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The AR technique was proposed recently to provide forecasts of atmospheric and astroclimatic parameters on short time-scales (up to a few hours) by achieving much better performance with respect to the ‘standard forecasts’ provided in early afternoon for the coming night. The AR method uses real-time measurements of the parameter of interest to improve the forecasts performed with atmospherical models. Here, we used measurements provided by the Low Humidity And Temperature PROfiling microwave radiometer (LHATPRO), a radiometer measuring the PWV at the VLT continuously. When comparing the AR forecast at 1h with the standard forecast, we observe a gain factor of ∼8 (i.e. ∼800 per cent) in terms of forecast accuracy. In the PWV ≤ 1 mm range, which is extremely critical for infrared astronomical applications, the RMSE of the predictions is of the order of just a few hundredth of millimetres (0.04 mm). We therefore proved that the AR technique provides an important benefit to VLT science operations for all instruments sensitive to PWV. Also, we show how such an ability to predict PWV can also be useful to predict the sky background in the infrared range [extremely appealing for Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS)]. We quantify such an ability by applying this method to the New Earth in the Alpha Cen region (NEAR) project supported by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and Breakthrough Initiatives.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 3861-3895 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Benevides ◽  
J. Catalao ◽  
P. M. A. Miranda

Abstract. The temporal behaviour of Precipitable Water Vapour (PWV) retrieved from GPS delay data is analysed in a number of case studies of intense precipitation in the Lisbon area, in the period 2010–2012, and in a continuous annual cycle of 2012 observations. Such behaviour is found to correlate positively with the probability of precipitation, especially in cases of severe rainfall. The evolution of the GPS PWV in a few stations is analysed by a least-squares fitting of a broken line tendency, made by a temporal sequence of ascents and descents over the data. It is found that most severe rainfall event occurs in descending trends after a long ascending period, and that the most intense events occur after steep ascents in PWV. A simple algorithm, forecasting rain in the 6 h after a steep ascent of the GPS PWV in a single station is found to produce reasonable forecasts of the occurrence of precipitation in the nearby region, without significant misses in what concerns larger rain events, but with a substantial amount of false alarms. It is suggested that this method could be improved by the analysis of 2-D or 3-D time varying GPS PWV fields, or by its joint use with other meteorological data relevant to nowcast precipitation.


Author(s):  
Houaria Namaoui ◽  
Salem Kahlouche ◽  
Ahmed Hafidh Belbachir

Remote sensing of atmospheric water vapour using GNSS and Satellite data has become an efficient tool in meteorology and climate research. Many satellite data have been increasingly used to measure the content of water vapour in the atmosphere and to characterize its temporal and spatial variations. In this paper, we have used observations from radiosonde data collected from three stations (Algiers, Bechar and Tamanrasset) in Algeria from January to December 2012 to evaluate Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) total precipitable water vapour (PWV) products. Results show strong agreement between the total precipitable water contents estimated based on radiosondes observations and the ones measured by the sensor MODIS with the correlation coefficients in the range 0.69 to 0.95 and a mean bias, which does not exceed 1.5.  


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-328
Author(s):  
R. K. GIRI ◽  
B. R. LOE ◽  
N. PUVIARSON ◽  
S. S. BHANDARI ◽  
R. K. SHARMA

Lkkj & ok;qeaMy esa ty ok"i dk forj.k LFkkfud :i ls vkSj dkfyd rkSj ij cgqr vf/kd ifjorZu’khy gksrk gSA ty ok"i dk forj.k vusdksa ok;qeaMyh; izfØ;kvksa esa izeq[k Hkwfedk fuHkkrk gSA dqy lekdfyr ty ok"i vFkok le:ih o"kkZ ty ok"i dk vkdyu Xykscy iksft’kfuax flLVe ¼th- ih- ,l-½ tsfuFk VksVy fMys ¼tsM- Vh- Mh-½ ds vk¡dM+ksa dh lgk;rk ls fd;k tk ldrk gSA blesa tsfuFk nzoLFkSfrd fMys ds eku dks funf’kZr fd;k x;k gS vkSj bls tsM- Vh- Mh- ls fudkyus ij tsfuFk vknzZ fMys ds vk¡dM+s izkIr gksaxsA vr% bl izdkj vkdfyr fd, x, tsM- MCY;w- Mh- ds eku ls izk;% yxkrkj ,e- ,e-  esa o"kkZ  ty ok"i dk irk pysxkA bl 'kks/k&i= esa th- ih- ,l- ds vk¡dM+ksa dk mi;ksx djrs gq, ubZ fnYyh ds fy, o"kZ 2003 ds 'khrdkyhu _rq vkSj Hkkjrh; foKku laLFkku ifj"kn] caxykSj ds dsanzksa ds fy, ,e- ,e- esa ih- MCY;w- oh- dk vkdyu djus dk iz;kl fd;k x;k gSA buls izkIr gq, ifj.kkeksa dk jsfM;kslkSUnsa vk¡dM+ksa ds lkFk lgh rkyesy ik;k x;k gSA The distribution of water vapour in atmosphere is highly spatial and temporal variable. It plays a key role in many atmospheric processes. The total integrated water vapour or equivalent precipitable water vapour (PWV) can be estimated with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) data. The value of Zenith Hydrostatic Delay (ZHD) is modeled and subtracting from ZTD will give Zenith wet delay (ZWD). Consequently, the estimated ZWD values will provide PWV in mm almost in a continuous manner. In this paper an attempt has been made for the estimation of PWV in mm during winter season 2003 for New Delhi and Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore stations using GPS data. The result shows fairly good agreement with the radio-sonde data. 


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document