scholarly journals Validation of FY-3D MERSI-2 Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) Datasets Using Ground-Based PWV Data from AERONET

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3246
Author(s):  
Yanqing Xie ◽  
Zhengqiang Li ◽  
Weizhen Hou ◽  
Jie Guang ◽  
Yan Ma ◽  
...  

The medium resolution spectral imager-2 (MERSI-2) is one of the most important sensors onboard China’s latest polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, Fengyun-3D (FY-3D). The National Satellite Meteorological Center of China Meteorological Administration has developed four precipitable water vapor (PWV) datasets using five near-infrared bands of MERSI-2, including the P905 dataset, P936 dataset, P940 dataset and the fusion dataset of the above three datasets. For the convenience of users, we comprehensively evaluate the quality of these PWV datasets with the ground-based PWV data derived from Aerosol Robotic Network. The validation results show that the P905, P936 and fused PWV datasets have relatively large systematic errors (−0.10, −0.11 and −0.07 g/cm2), whereas the systematic error of the P940 dataset (−0.02 g/cm2) is very small. According to the overall accuracy of these four PWV datasets by our assessments, they can be ranked in descending order as P940 dataset, fused dataset, P936 dataset and P905 dataset. The root mean square error (RMSE), relative error (RE) and percentage of retrieval results with error within ±(0.05+0.10∗PWVAERONET) (PER10) of the P940 PWV dataset are 0.24 g/cm2, 0.10 and 76.36%, respectively. The RMSE, RE and PER10 of the P905 PWV dataset are 0.38 g/cm2, 0.15 and 57.72%, respectively. In order to obtain a clearer understanding of the accuracy of these four MERSI-2 PWV datasets, we compare the accuracy of these four MERSI-2 PWV datasets with that of the widely used MODIS PWV dataset and AIRS PWV dataset. The results of the comparison show that the accuracy of the MODIS PWV dataset is not as good as that of all four MERSI-2 PWV datasets, due to the serious overestimation of the MODIS PWV dataset (0.40 g/cm2), and the accuracy of the AIRS PWV dataset is worse than that of the P940 and fused MERSI-2 PWV datasets. In addition, we analyze the error distribution of the four PWV datasets in different locations, seasons and water vapor content. Finally, the reason why the fused PWV dataset is not the one with the highest accuracy among the four PWV datasets is discussed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 3469
Author(s):  
Bilawal Abbasi ◽  
Zhihao Qin ◽  
Wenhui Du ◽  
Jinlong Fan ◽  
Chunliang Zhao ◽  
...  

The atmosphere has substantial effects on optical remote sensing imagery of the Earth’s surface from space. These effects come through the functioning of atmospheric particles on the radiometric transfer from the Earth’s surface through the atmosphere to the sensor in space. Precipitable water vapor (PWV), CO2, ozone, and aerosol in the atmosphere are very important among the particles through their functioning. This study presented an algorithm to retrieve total PWV from the Chinese second-generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellite FengYun 3D Medium Resolution Spectral Imager 2 (FY-3D MERSI-2) data, which have three near-infrared (NIR) water vapor absorbing channels, i.e., channel 16, 17, and 18. The algorithm was improved from the radiance ratio technique initially developed for Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. MODTRAN 5 was used to simulate the process of radiant transfer from the ground surfaces to the sensor at various atmospheric conditions for estimation of the coefficients of ratio technique, which was achieved through statistical regression analysis between the simulated radiance and transmittance values for FY-3D MERSI-2 NIR channels. The algorithm was then constructed as a linear combination of the three-water vapor absorbing channels of FY-3D MERSI-2. Measurements from two ground-based reference datasets were used to validate the algorithm: the sun photometer measurements of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and the microwave radiometer measurements of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARMP). The validation results showed that the algorithm performs very well when compared with the ground-based reference datasets. The estimated PWV values come with root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.28 g/cm2 for the ARMP and 0.26 g/cm2 for the AERONET datasets, with bias of 0.072 g/cm2 and 0.096 g/cm2 for the two reference datasets, respectively. The accuracy of the proposed algorithm revealed a better consistency with ground-based reference datasets. Thus, the proposed algorithm could be used as an alternative to retrieve PWV from FY-3D MERSI-2 data for various remote sensing applications such as agricultural monitoring, climate change, hydrologic cycle, and so on at various regional and global scales.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 7821-7834
Author(s):  
Wengang Zhang​​​​​​​ ◽  
Ling Wang ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
Guirong Xu ◽  
Xiuqing Hu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Atmospheric water vapor plays a key role in Earth's radiation balance and hydrological cycle, and the precipitable-water-vapor (PWV) product under clear-sky conditions has been routinely provided by the advanced Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI-II) on board Fengyun-3D since 2018. The global evaluation of the PWV product derived from MERSI-II is performed herein by comparing it with PWV from the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) based on a total of 462 sites (57 219 matchups) during 2018–2021. The monthly averaged PWV from MERSI-II presents a decreasing distribution of PWV from the tropics to the polar regions. In general, a sound consistency exists between PWV values of MERSI-II and IGRA; their correlation coefficient is 0.951, and their root mean squared error (RMSE) is 0.36 cm. The histogram of mean bias (MB) shows that the MB is concentrated around zero and mostly located within the range from −1.00 cm to 0.50 cm. For most sites, PWV is underestimated with the MB between −0.41 and 0.05 cm. However, there is also an overestimated PWV, which is mostly distributed in the area surrounding the Black Sea and the middle of South America. There is a slight underestimation of MERSI-II PWV for all seasons with the MB value below −0.18 cm, with the bias being the largest magnitude in summer. This is probably due to the presence of thin clouds, which weaken the radiation signal observed by the satellite. We also find that there is a larger bias in the Southern Hemisphere, with a large value and significant variation in PWV. The binned error analysis revealed that the MB and RMSE increased with the increasing value of PWV, but there is an overestimation for PWV smaller than 1.0 cm. In addition, there is a higher MB and RMSE with a larger spatial distance between the footprint of the satellite and the IGRA station, and the RMSE ranged from 0.33 to 0.47 cm. There is a notable dependency on solar zenith angle of the deviations between MERSI-II and IGRA PWV products.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 533-534
Author(s):  
Alain Smette ◽  
Hugues Sana ◽  
Hannes Horst

Accurate synthetic telluric spectra are required for efficient use of telescope time, in particular, with large telescopes and high-resolution NIR spectroscopy: (i) In the preparation of observations, are the telluric features at the same wavelength as spectroscopic features of scientific interest? Since water vapor is the molecule whose abundance varies most in the atmosphere, what values of precipitable water vapor are suitable to carry out successful observations? Are the observations of a telluric star required? Or better, can telluric features in the science spectrum be accurately represented by an appropriate synthetic spectrum? This point is also very important in the planning of telescope time, as observations of a telluric star may sometimes take longer than the one of the science target. (ii) In the analysis of the observations, how do telluric lines affect the scientifically interesting features in the observed spectrum? Is it possible to recover the useful information when telluric star observations could not be obtained, do not have sufficient SNR, or suffer from a significant change in instrumental or observing conditions?


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2761
Author(s):  
Dantong Zhu ◽  
Kefei Zhang ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
Suqin Wu ◽  
Longjiang Li

Water vapor is one of the most important parameters in climatic studies. MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a key instrument and can provide spatially continuous precipitable water vapor (PWV) products. This study was focused on the performance evaluation of the MODIS near-infrared PWV product (MOD-NIR-PWV) over China. For a comprehensive assessment of the performance of MOD-NIR-PWV, PWV retrieved from the measurements at the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) stations (i.e., GNSS-PWV) and the ERA5 reanalysis dataset (ERA-PWV) from 2013 to 2018 were used as the reference. To investigate the suitability of using ERA-PWV as the reference for the evaluation, ERA-PWV was compared to the high-accuracy GNSS-PWV at 246 GNSS stations and PWV retrieved from radiosonde observations (RS-PWV) at 78 radiosonde stations over China. The results showed that the mean bias and mean root-mean-square (RMS) of the differences between ERA-PWV and GNSS-PWV across all the stations were 0.5 and 1.7 mm, respectively, and the mean correlation coefficient of the two datasets was above 0.96. The values were 0.4 and 1.9 mm and 0.97, respectively, for the differences between ERA-PWV and RS-PWV. This suggests the suitability of ERA-PWV as the reference for the evaluation of MOD-NIR-PWV. In addition, MOD-NIR-PWV was compared with both GNSS-PWV and ERA-PWV, and their mean bias and mean RMS were 2.9 and 3.8 mm (compared to GNSS-PWV) and 2.1 and 3.0 mm (compared to ERA-PWV), respectively. The positive bias values and the non-normal distribution of the differences between MOD-NIR-PWV and both reference datasets imply that a considerable systematic overestimation of MOD-NIR-PWV over China may exist. To mitigate the systematic bias, ERA-PWV was utilized as the sample data due to its spatial continuities, and a grid-based calibration model was developed based on the annual and semiannual periodicities in the differences between MOD-NIR-PWV and ERA-PWV at each grid point. After applying the calibration model to correct MOD-NIR-PWV, the calibrated MOD-NIR-PWV was compared with ERA-PWV and GNSS-PWV for precision and accuracy analysis, respectively. The comparison showed that the model could significantly improve the precision by 94% and accuracy by 53%, which manifested the effectiveness of the calibration model in improving the performance of MOD-NIR-PWV over China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqi Gong ◽  
Daniel F. T. Hagan ◽  
Cunjie Zhang

The Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest plateau in the world, and its complex terrain affects the distribution of precipitable water vapor (PWV) in the atmosphere, which plays an important role in the weather and climate of East Asia. In this paper, the characteristics of PWV over the Tibetan Plateau are studied using the FengYun-3A Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) water vapor products, which are retrieved from the MERSI raw images of Chinese second-generation polar orbit meteorological satellite. Firstly, the accuracy of the MERSI 5-minute water vapor product is validated using three referenced water vapor data from TERRA/MODIS, ground-based GPS, and AERONET sun photometer over the Tibetan Plateau. Then, the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of PWV over the plateau are analyzed, and the effects of topographic factors on PWV are discussed. The results indicate that the MERSI 5-minute water vapor product has a good accuracy over the Tibetan Plateau, which the mean absolute error of MERSI water vapor product is in the range of 28.91%-37.54%, the mean absolute error range between 1.87 and 2.76 millimeter (mm), and the mean bias is between -1.14 and 0.64 mm comparing three referenced data. The PWV content appears as a typical spatial pattern over the Tibetan Plateau where there is a decrease from east to west of the Tibetan Plateau with increasing elevation, with the highest values over the south of Tibet. A second pattern also appears over the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, where the PWV content in the Qaidam Basin and the south of Tarim Basin are also considerably high. The seasonal variation of PWV content over the Tibetan Plateau presents to be highest in summer, followed by autumn and spring, and lowest in winter. The PWV content changes periodically during the year, which fits with a quadratic polynomial over monthly scales. The topographical factors of the Tibetan Plateau were found to affect the water vapor, where the altitude and latitude are negatively correlated with water vapor, while the slope and longitude show a positive correlation with water vapor; however, the aspect does not appear to have any significant influence on water vapor.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (15) ◽  
pp. 5699-5713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Kun Yang ◽  
Zhengyang Pan ◽  
Jun Qin ◽  
Deliang Chen ◽  
...  

The southern Tibetan Plateau (STP) is the region in which water vapor passes from South Asia into the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The accuracy of precipitable water vapor (PWV) modeling for this region depends strongly on the quality of the available estimates of water vapor advection and the parameterization of land evaporation models. While climate simulation is frequently improved by assimilating relevant satellite and reanalysis products, this requires an understanding of the accuracy of these products. In this study, PWV data from MODIS infrared and near-infrared measurements, AIRS Level-2 and Level-3, MERRA, ERA-Interim, JRA-55, and NCEP final reanalysis (NCEP-Final) are evaluated against ground-based GPS measurements at nine stations over the STP, which covers the summer monsoon season from 2007 to 2013. The MODIS infrared product is shown to underestimate water vapor levels by more than 20% (1.84 mm), while the MODIS near-infrared product overestimates them by over 40% (3.52 mm). The AIRS PWV product appears to be most useful for constructing high-resolution and high-quality PWV datasets over the TP; particularly the AIRS Level-2 product has a relatively low bias (0.48 mm) and RMSE (1.83 mm) and correlates strongly with the GPS measurements ( R = 0.90). The four reanalysis datasets exhibit similar performance in terms of their correlation coefficients ( R = 0.87–0.90), bias (0.72–1.49 mm), and RMSE (2.19–2.35 mm). The key finding is that all the reanalyses have positive biases along the PWV seasonal cycle, which is linked to the well-known wet bias over the TP of current climate models.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wengang Zhang ◽  
Ling Wang ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
Guirong Xu ◽  
Xiuqing Hu ◽  
...  

Abstract. The evaluation of precipitable water vapor (PWV) derived from the advanced Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI-II) onboard FengYun-3D is performed with the PWV from Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) based on 626 sites (54214 match-ups) in total during 2018–2021. The averaged PWVs from MERSI-II and IGRA both present the distribution opposite to latitude, with great PWV mostly found in the tropics. In general, a good consistency exists between the PWVs of MERSI-Ⅱ and IGRA, and their correlation coefficient is 0.9400 and root mean squared error (RMSE) is 0.31 cm. The peak values of mean bias (MB) and the mean relative bias (MRB) are 0.00 cm and −2.38 %, with the standard deviations of 0.25 cm and 16.8 %, respectively. For most sites, the PWV is underestimated with the MB between −0.28 cm and 0.05 cm. However, there is also overestimated PWV, which is mostly distributed in the surrounding areas of the Black Sea and the middle of South America. The peak values of MB are found in February and July over the Southern and Northern Hemisphere, respectively. More than 66.91 % of retrievals falling within the except error (EE) envelope during all months. Overall, the MRB and RMSE become larger with the increasing temporal and distance discrepancy, and it is contrast for EE and correlation coefficient. Besides, the distance discrepancy impacts the evaluation more. The application of PWV product over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shows that the transport of water vapor along the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon is obvious and it is more significant in July.


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