scholarly journals Characterization of merged AIRS and MLS water vapor sensitivity through integration of averaging kernels and retrievals

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 2833-2859 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. K. Liang ◽  
A. Eldering ◽  
F. W. Irion ◽  
W. G. Read ◽  
E. J. Fetzer ◽  
...  

Abstract. In this paper, we analyze averaging kernels to assess the sensitivity of the Aqua Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) to water vapor. The averaging kernels, in the tropical and extra-tropical upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric region of the atmosphere, indicate that AIRS is primarily sensitive to water vapor concentrations typical of tropospheric values up to a level around 260 hPa. At lower pressures AIRS retrievals lose sensitivity to water vapor, though not completely as indicated by the non-zero verticalities at pressures less than 260 hPa. The MLS is able to provide high quality retrievals, with verticalities ~1 for all pressure levels, down to the same level for where AIRS begins to lose sensitivity. Previous analyses have estimated both instruments to have overlapping sensitivity to water vapor over a half temperature scale height layer, within the upper troposphere, for concentrations between ~30–400 ppmv. Thus, we implement a method using the averaging kernel information to join the AIRS and MLS profiles into an merged set of water vapor profiles. The final combined profiles are not only smooth functions with height but preserve the atmospheric state as interpreted by both the AIRS and MLS instruments.

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (20) ◽  
pp. 5558-5576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian H. Kahn ◽  
João Teixeira

Abstract A global climatology of height-resolved variance scaling within the troposphere is presented using derived temperature (T) and water vapor (q) profiles from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). The power-law exponent of T variance scaling approaches 1.0 outside of the tropics at scales >500–800 km, but it is closer to 0.3 at scales <500 km, similar to exponents obtained from aircraft campaigns, numerical modeling, and theoretical studies. The T exponents in the tropics at all scales become less than 0.3, with a similar pattern observed within the boundary layer in some extratropical regions. For q, the variance scaling differs substantially from T with exponents near 0.5–0.6 in parts of the tropics and subtropics with little to no scale break, showing some consistency with a very limited set of aircraft and satellite studies. Scaling differences as a function of land and ocean, altitude, and cloudy- and clear-sky scenes are quantified. Both T and q exponents indicate peak magnitudes in the midtroposphere and reductions are observed near the boundary layer and upper troposphere. Seasonal variations of T and q scaling reveal a stronger seasonal cycle over land than ocean, especially for T at large length scales. While the zonal variations of T and q exponents vary significantly for scales <500 km, the seasonal variations are much smaller in magnitude. The exponents derived from AIRS could eventually be extrapolated to smaller scales in the absence of additional scale breaks <150 km to provide useful information for constraining subgrid-scale cloud parameterizations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 3946
Author(s):  
Pasquale Sellitto ◽  
Silvia Bucci ◽  
Bernard Legras

Clouds in the tropics have an important role in the energy budget, atmospheric circulation, humidity, and composition of the tropical-to-global upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere. Due to its non-sun-synchronous orbit, the Cloud–Aerosol Transport System (CATS) onboard the International Space Station (ISS) provided novel information on clouds from space in terms of overpass time in the period of 2015–2017. In this paper, we provide a seasonally resolved comparison of CATS characterization of high clouds (between 13 and 18 km altitude) in the tropics with well-established CALIPSO (Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) data, both in terms of clouds’ occurrence and cloud optical properties (optical depth). Despite the fact that cloud statistics for CATS and CALIOP are generated using intrinsically different local overpass times, the characterization of high clouds occurrence and optical properties in the tropics with the two instruments is very similar. Observations from CATS underestimate clouds occurrence (up to 80%, at 18 km) and overestimate the occurrence of very thick clouds (up to 100% for optically very thick clouds, at 18 km) at higher altitudes. Thus, the description of stratospheric overshoots with CATS and CALIOP might be different. While this study hints at the consistency of CATS and CALIOP clouds characterizaton, the small differences highlighted in this work should be taken into account when using CATS for estimating cloud properties and their variability in the tropics.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Carolina Cardell ◽  
Jose Santiago Pozo-Antonio

The physical–chemical characterization of natural and synthetic historical inorganic and mineral pigments, which may be found embedded in paintings (real or mock-ups), glass, enamel, ceramics, beads, tesserae, etc., as well as their alteration under different decay scenarios, is a demanding line of investigation. This field of research is now both well established and dynamic, as revealed by the numerous publications in high-quality journals of varied scientific disciplines. [...]


1998 ◽  
Vol 264-268 ◽  
pp. 1201-1204
Author(s):  
F. Hamdani ◽  
M. Yeadon ◽  
David John Smith ◽  
H. Tang ◽  
W. Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 2284-2294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eui-Seok Chung ◽  
Brian J. Soden

Abstract Consistency of upper-tropospheric water vapor measurements from a variety of state-of-the-art instruments was assessed using collocated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-8 (GOES-8) 6.7-μm brightness temperatures as a common benchmark during the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE) Water Vapor Experiment (AFWEX). To avoid uncertainties associated with the inversion of satellite-measured radiances into water vapor quantity, profiles of temperature and humidity observed from in situ, ground-based, and airborne instruments are inserted into a radiative transfer model to simulate the brightness temperature that the GOES-8 would have observed under those conditions (i.e., profile-to-radiance approach). Comparisons showed that Vaisala RS80-H radiosondes and Meteolabor Snow White chilled-mirror dewpoint hygrometers are systemically drier in the upper troposphere by ∼30%–40% relative to the GOES-8 measured upper-tropospheric humidity (UTH). By contrast, two ground-based Raman lidars (Cloud and Radiation Test Bed Raman lidar and scanning Raman lidar) and one airborne differential absorption lidar agree to within 10% of the GOES-8 measured UTH. These results indicate that upper-tropospheric water vapor can be monitored by these lidars and well-calibrated, stable geostationary satellites with an uncertainty of less than 10%, and that correction procedures are required to rectify the inherent deficiencies of humidity measurements in the upper troposphere from these radiosondes.


2000 ◽  
Vol 209 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q.K Yang ◽  
J.X Chen ◽  
A.Z Li
Keyword(s):  

1984 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 398-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.D. Dupuis ◽  
R.C. Miller ◽  
P.M. Petroff

Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdoulaye Sy ◽  
Bouya Diop ◽  
Joël Van Baelen ◽  
Christophe Duroure ◽  
Yahya Gour ◽  
...  

We present a study of upper tropospheric westward transport of air masses coming from the Indian monsoon zone over the period 1998–2008. The objective is to characterize upper tropospheric transport of water vapor from the Indian to Sahelian regions, and to improve the understanding of the dynamical mechanisms that govern water vapor variations in West Africa and the interconnections between India and the Sahel, focusing on the direct role of the Indian monsoon region on Sahel tropospheric water vapor and precipitation. The calculations of forward trajectories with LACYTRAJ (LACY TRAJectory code) and humidity fluxes show that a substantial part (40 to 70% at 300 hPa) of trajectories coming from the upper troposphere of the monsoon region crossed the Sahelian region in a few days (3–14 days), and water vapor fluxes connecting these two regions are established when the Indian monsoon begins at latitudes higher than 15° N in its south–north migration. The intensity and orientation of water vapor fluxes are related to the tropical easterly jet, but they are from the east above the high convection zones. Between 1998 and 2008, these fluxes between the 500–300 hPa pressure levels are associated with precipitation in Sahel only if they are from the east and with an intensity exceeding 8 kg·(m·s)−1.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Venkat Ratnam ◽  
S. Ravindra Babu ◽  
S. S. Das ◽  
Ghouse Basha ◽  
B. V. Krishnamurthy ◽  
...  

Abstract. Tropical cyclones play an important role in modifying the tropopause structure and dynamics as well as stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) process in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS) region. In the present study, the impact of cyclones that occurred over the North Indian Ocean during 2007–2013 on the STE process is quantified using satellite observations. Tropopause characteristics during cyclones are obtained from the Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO) measurements and ozone and water vapor concentrations in UTLS region are obtained from Aura-Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite observations. The effect of cyclones on the tropopause parameters is observed to be more prominent within 500 km from the centre of cyclone. In our earlier study we have observed decrease (increase) in the tropopause altitude (temperature) up to 0.6 km (3 K) and the convective outflow level increased up to 2 km. This change leads to a total increase in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) thickness of 3 km within the 500 km from the centre of cyclone. Interestingly, an enhancement in the ozone mixing ratio in the upper troposphere is clearly noticed within 500 km from cyclone centre whereas the enhancement in the water vapor in the lower stratosphere is more significant on south-east side extending from 500–1000 km away from the cyclone centre. We estimated the cross-tropopause mass flux for different intensities of cyclones and found that the mean flux from stratosphere to troposphere for cyclonic stroms is 0.05 ± 0.29 × 10−3 kg m−2 and for very severe cyclonic stroms it is 0.5 ± 1.07 × 10−3 kg m−2. More downward flux is noticed in the north-west and south-west side of the cyclone centre. These results indicate that the cyclones have significant impact in effecting the tropopause structure, ozone and water vapour budget and consequentially the STE in the UTLS region.


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