Water vapour monitoring with E-band microwave links of cellular backhaul

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Fencl ◽  
Vojtech Bares
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Electromagnetic Waves ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Full Duplex ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Vapour Density ◽  
Network Operation ◽  
Highly Correlated

<p>Water vapour observations represent an important input e.g. for predicting mesoscale initiation of convective precipitation or estimating evapotranspiration. E-band commercial microwave links (CMLs), which are increasingly used in cellular backhaul, might be used as unintentional water vapour sensors accessible remotely from a network operation centre. E-band CMLs operate at frequencies between 71 and 86 GHz where water vapour causes substantial attenuation of electromagnetic waves. This attenuation can be related to water vapour density along a CML path, nevertheless, it has to be properly separated from other sources of attenuation, especially rainfall-induced attenuation, and wet antenna attenuation caused by wet surface of antenna radomes. Moreover, the relation between attenuation and water vapour density is also dependent on temperature (Fencl et al., 2020).</p><p>This contribution evaluates capability to estimate water vapour density on a 4.86 km long full-duplex CML being operated within cellular backhaul at frequencies 73.5 GHz and 83.5 GHz. Three rain gauges are deployed along its path, two of them being equipped with an air humidity sensor. The evaluation period is between August to December 2018. The results show that estimation of water vapour density is feasible when there is now rain and antenna radomes are dry, which is only about 50% of time. Estimated water vapour density during dry weather is highly correlated with humidity observations (r = 0.7). The highest correlations are observed during summer season (r = 0.9) and lowest during December (r = 0.3) when amplitude of water vapour fluctuations are small. In contrast, mean absolute error is highest during August (approx. 1 g/m<sup>3</sup>) and lowest in December (0.2 g/m<sup>3</sup>). Most of the outliers were encountered during October, probably due to multipath inferences occurring during clear-sky conditions.</p><p>Unintentional sensing of water vapour density with E-band CMLs is feasible by sufficiently (several kilometres) long CMLs. Currently, 20 % of new CML deployments are operated E-band. E-band CMLs might thus greatly increase continental coverage of water vapour ground observations.</p><p> </p><p>Fencl, M., Dohnal, M., Valtr, P., Grabner, M. and Bareš, V.: Atmospheric observations with E-band microwave links – challenges and opportunities, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 13(12), 6559–6578, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6559-2020, 2020.</p>

scholarly journals Dynamical visualization of anisotropic electromagnetic re-emissions from a single metal micro-helix at THz frequencies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Notake ◽  
T. Iyoda ◽  
T. Arikawa ◽  
K. Tanaka ◽  
C. Otani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Electromagnetic Waves ◽  
Electromagnetic Compatibility ◽  
Smart Antenna ◽  
Dynamical Behavior ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Spatial Evolution ◽  
Frequency Spectra ◽  
3D Objects ◽  
Current Oscillations

AbstractThe capability for actual measurements—not just simulations—of the dynamical behavior of THz electromagnetic waves, including interactions with prevalent 3D objects, has become increasingly important not only for developments of various THz devices, but also for reliable evaluation of electromagnetic compatibility. We have obtained real-time visualizations of the spatial evolution of THz electromagnetic waves interacting with a single metal micro-helix. After the micro-helix is stimulated by a broadband pico-second pulse of THz electromagnetic waves, two types of anisotropic re-emissions can occur following overall inductive current oscillations in the micro-helix. They propagate in orthogonally crossed directions with different THz frequency spectra. This unique radiative feature can be very useful for the development of a smart antenna with broadband multiplexing/demultiplexing ability and directional adaptivity. In this way, we have demonstrated that our advanced measurement techniques can lead to the development of novel functional THz devices.

scholarly journals Alexander Lamb Cullen OBE. 30 April 1920—27 December 2013

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 131-148
Author(s):  
J. Brian Davies
Keyword(s):  
Electromagnetic Waves ◽  
Electrical Engineering ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Engineering Research ◽  
British Science ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Media ◽  
Great Sense ◽  
The Times

Alex Cullen combined the sharpest of scientific minds with a gentle personality and a great sense of humour. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Sheffield from 1955 to 1967, and then Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at University College London (UCL) until 1980. He continued his research there as a Science and Engineering Research Council Senior Fellow until 1985, and for some years as Research Fellow of UCL. His research concerned electromagnetic waves over a wide range of microwave devices and measurement techniques, the latter at a fundamental level. These contributions were of a highly innovative and ‘ground-breaking’ nature. He was appointed OBE in 1960, and elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977. He was an accomplished jazz musician, playing drums and clarinet. He was a signatory of a letter to The Times in January 1986, calling on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to ‘Save British Science’. This led to the foundation of the Save British Science pressure group, now the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), which has built up an enviable reputation with politicians and the media in representing the concerns of scientists and engineers. When (now Sir) Eric Ash left UCL in 1985 to become Rector of Imperial College, he remarked that Alex was ‘the last gentleman in the business’.

scholarly journals An improved troposphere tomographic approach considering the signals coming from the side face of the tomographic area

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingzhi Zhao ◽  
Yibin Yao
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Grid Point ◽  
Scale Factor ◽  
Reference Station ◽  
Radiosonde Data ◽  
Improved Method ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Unit Scale ◽  
Vapour Density

Abstract. The spatio-temporal distribution of atmospheric water vapour information plays a crucial role in the establishment of modern numerical weather forecast models and description of the different weather variations. A troposphere tomographic method has been proposed considering the signal rays penetrating from the side of the area of interest to solve the problem of the low utilisation rate of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations. Given the method above needs the establishment of a unit scale factor model using the radiosonde data at only one location in the research area, an improved approach is proposed by considering the reasonability of modelling data and the diversity of the modelling parameters for building a more accurate unit scale factor model. The new established model is established using grid point data derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and evenly distributed in the tomographic area, which can enhance the number of calculated initial water vapour density values with high accuracy. We validated the improved method with respect to the previous methods, as well as the result from a radiosonde using data from 12 stations from the Hong Kong Satellite Positioning Reference Station Network. The obtained result shows that the number of initial values estimated by the new model is increased by 6.83 %, while the internal and external accuracies are 0.08 and 0.24 g m−3, respectively. Integrated water vapour (IWV) and water vapour density profile comparisons show that the improved method is superior to previous studies in terms of RMS, MAE, and bias, which suggests higher accuracy and reliability.

scholarly journals Ice injected into the tropopause by deep convection – Part 1: In the austral convective tropics

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 6459-6479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris-Amata Dion ◽  
Philippe Ricaud ◽  
Peter Haynes ◽  
Fabien Carminati ◽  
Thibaut Dauhut
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Diurnal Cycle ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Tropical Ocean ◽  
Linear Coefficient ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Ice Water

Abstract. The contribution of deep convection to the amount of water vapour and ice in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) from the tropical upper troposphere (UT; around 146 hPa) to the tropopause level (TL; around 100 hPa) is investigated. Ice water content (IWC) and water vapour (WV) measured in the UT and the TL by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS; Version 4.2) are compared to the precipitation (Prec) measured by the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM; Version 007). The two datasets, gridded within 2∘ × 2∘ horizontal bins, have been analysed during the austral convective season, December, January, and February (DJF), from 2004 to 2017. MLS observations are performed at 01:30 and 13:30 local solar time, whilst the Prec dataset is constructed with a time resolution of 1 h. The new contribution of this study is to provide a much more detailed picture of the diurnal variation of ice than is provided by the very limited (two per day) MLS observations. Firstly, we show that IWC represents 70 % and 50 % of the total water in the tropical UT and TL, respectively, and that Prec is spatially highly correlated with IWC in the UT (Pearson's linear coefficient R=0.7). We propose a method that uses Prec as a proxy for deep convection bringing ice up to the UT and TL during the growing stage of convection, in order to estimate the amount of ice injected into the UT and the TL, respectively. We validate the method using ice measurements from the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) during the period DJF 2009–2010. Next, the diurnal cycle of injection of IWC into the UT and the TL by deep convection is calculated by the difference between the maximum and the minimum in the estimated diurnal cycle of IWC in these layers and over selected convective zones. Six tropical highly convective zones have been chosen: South America, South Africa, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Maritime Continent region, split into land (MariCont-L) and ocean (MariCont-O). IWC injection is found to be 2.73 and 0.41 mg m−3 over tropical land in the UT and TL, respectively, and 0.60 and 0.13 mg m−3 over tropical ocean in the UT and TL, respectively. The MariCont-L region has the greatest ice injection in both the UT and TL (3.34 and 0.42–0.56 mg m−3, respectively). The MariCont-O region has less ice injection than MariCont-L (0.91 mg m−3 in the UT and 0.16–0.34 mg m−3 in TL) but has the highest diurnal minimum value of IWC in the TL (0.34–0.37 mg m−3) among all oceanic zones.

scholarly journals Dataset of surface water vapour density in southeast, Nigeria

Data in Brief ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 131-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayo A. Akinwumi ◽  
Temidayo V. Omotosho ◽  
Mojisola R. Usikalu ◽  
Oluwole A. Odetunmibi ◽  
Oluwafunmilayo O. Ometan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Vapour ◽  
Vapour Density

scholarly journals Statistical analyses and correlation between tropospheric temperature and humidity at Dome C, Antarctica

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Ricaud ◽  
F. Carminati ◽  
Y. Courcoux ◽  
A. Pellegrini ◽  
J.-L. Attié ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Microwave Radiometer ◽  
Weather Forecast ◽  
Tropospheric Temperature ◽  
Infrared Sensors ◽  
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ◽  
Medium Range Weather Forecast ◽  
Integrated Water Vapour ◽  
Highly Correlated

AbstractThe Dome C (Concordia) station in Antarctica (75°06′S, 123°21′E, 3233 m above mean sea level) has a unique opportunity to test the quality of remote-sensing measurements and meteorological analyses because it is situated well inside the Eastern Antarctic Plateau and is less affected by local phenomena. Measurements of tropospheric temperature and water vapour (H2O) together with the integrated water vapour (IWV) performed in 2010 are statistically analysed to assess their quality and to study the yearly correlation between temperature and H2O over the entire troposphere. The statistical tools include yearly evolution, seasonally-averaged mean and bias, standard deviation and linear Pearson correlation. The datasets are made of measurements from the ground-based microwave radiometer H2O Antarctica Microwave Stratospheric and Tropospheric Radiometer (HAMSTRAD), radiosonde, in situ sensors, the space-borne infrared sensors Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the MetOp-A platform and the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) on the Aqua platform, and the analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). Despite some obvious biases within all these datasets, our study shows that temperature and IWV are generally measured with high quality whilst H2O measurement quality is slightly worse. The AIRS and IASI measurements do not have the vertical resolution to correctly probe the lowermost troposphere, whilst HAMSTRAD loses sensitivity in the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere. Within the entire troposphere over the whole year, it is found that the time evolution of temperature and H2O is highly correlated (> 0.8). This suggests that, in addition to the variability of solar radiation producing an obvious diurnal cycle in the planetary boundary layer in summer and an obvious seasonal cycle over the year, the H2O and temperature intra-seasonal variabilities are affected by the same processes, e.g. related to the long-range transport of air masses.

scholarly journals Arctic stratospheric dehydration – Part 1: Unprecedented observation of vertical redistribution of water

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 11503-11517 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Khaykin ◽  
I. Engel ◽  
H. Vömel ◽  
I. M. Formanyuk ◽  
R. Kivi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Thick Layer ◽  
Satellite Observation ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Ice Particles ◽  
Climate Interactions ◽  
Stratospheric Clouds

Abstract. We present high-resolution measurements of water vapour, aerosols and clouds in the Arctic stratosphere in January and February 2010 carried out by in situ instrumentation on balloon sondes and high-altitude aircraft combined with satellite observations. The measurements provide unparalleled evidence of dehydration and rehydration due to gravitational settling of ice particles. An extreme cooling of the Arctic stratospheric vortex during the second half of January 2010 resulted in a rare synoptic-scale outbreak of ice polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) remotely detected by the lidar aboard the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) satellite. The widespread occurrence of ice clouds was followed by sedimentation and consequent sublimation of ice particles, leading to vertical redistribution of water inside the vortex. A sequence of balloon and aircraft soundings with chilled mirror and Lyman- α hygrometers (Cryogenic Frostpoint Hygrometer, CFH; Fast In Situ Stratospheric Hygrometer, FISH; Fluorescent Airborne Stratospheric Hygrometer, FLASH) and backscatter sondes (Compact Optical Backscatter Aerosol Detector, COBALD) conducted in January 2010 within the LAPBIAT (Lapland Atmosphere-Biosphere Facility) and RECONCILE (Reconciliation of Essential Process Parameters for an Enhanced Predictability of Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Loss and its Climate Interactions) campaigns captured various phases of this phenomenon: ice formation, irreversible dehydration and rehydration. Consistent observations of water vapour by these independent measurement techniques show clear signatures of irreversible dehydration of the vortex air by up to 1.6 ppmv in the 20–24 km altitude range and rehydration by up to 0.9 ppmv in a 1 km thick layer below. Comparison with space-borne Aura MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) water vapour observations allow the spatiotemporal evolution of dehydrated air masses within the Arctic vortex to be derived and upscaled.

scholarly journals The uncertainty of the atmospheric integrated water vapour estimated from GNSS observations

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 8817-8857 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ning ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
G. Elgered ◽  
G. Dick ◽  
J. Wickert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Total Delay ◽  
Error Sources ◽  
Integrated Water Vapour ◽  
Input Variables ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gnss Observations

Abstract. Within the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Reference Upper Air Network (GRUAN) there is a need for an assessment of the uncertainty in the Integrated Water Vapour (IWV) in the atmosphere estimated from ground-based GNSS observations. All relevant error sources in GNSS-derived IWV is therefore essential to be investigated. We present two approaches, a statistical and a theoretical analysis, for the assessment of the uncertainty of the IWV. It will be implemented to the GNSS IWV data stream for GRUAN in order to obtain a specific uncertainty for each data point. In addition, specific recommendations are made to GRUAN on hardware, software, and data processing practices to minimize the IWV uncertainty. By combining the uncertainties associated with the input variables in the estimations of the IWV, we calculated the IWV uncertainties for several GRUAN sites with different weather conditions. The results show a similar relative importance of all uncertainty contributions where the uncertainties in the Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) dominate the error budget of the IWV contributing with over 75 % to the total IWV uncertainty. The impact of the uncertainty associated with the conversion factor between the IWV and the Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD) is proportional to the amount of water vapour and increases slightly for moist weather conditions. The GRUAN GNSS IWV uncertainty data will provide a quantified confidence to be used for the validation of other measurement techniques, taking the uncertainty into account from diurnal to decadal time scales.

scholarly journals Response of water vapour D-excess to land-atmosphere interactions in a semi-arid environment

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Parkes ◽  
Matthew F. McCabe ◽  
Alan D. Griffiths ◽  
Lixin Wang ◽  
Scott Chambers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Water Vapour ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Moisture Source ◽  
Moisture Recycling ◽  
Nocturnal Inversion ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. The stable isotopic composition of water vapour provides information about moisture sources and processes that is difficult to obtain with traditional measurement techniques. Recently, it has been proposed that the D-excess (dv = δ2H − 8 × δ18O) of water vapour can provide a diagnostic tracer of continental moisture recycling. However, D-excess exhibits a diurnal cycle that has been observed across a variety of ecosystems and may be influenced by a range of processes beyond regional scale moisture recycling, including local evaporation (ET) fluxes. There is a lack of measurements of D-excess in evaporation (ET) fluxes, which has made it difficult to assess how ET fluxes modify the D-excess in water vapour (dv). With this in mind, we employed a chamber based approach to directly measure D-excess in ET (dET) fluxes. We show that ET fluxes imposed a negative forcing on the ambient vapour and could not explain the higher daytime dv values. The low dET observed here was sourced from a soil water pool that had undergone an extended drying period, leading to low D-excess of the soil moisture. A strong correlation between daytime dv and locally measured relative humidity was consistent with an oceanic moisture source, suggesting that remote hydrological processes were the major contributor to daytime dv variability. During the early evening, ET fluxes into a shallow nocturnal inversion layer caused a lowering of the dv values near the surface. In addition, transient mixing of vapour with a higher D-excess from above the nocturnal inversion modified these values, causing large within night variability. These results indicate dET can generally be expected to show large spatial and temporal variability and to depend on the soil moisture state. For long periods between rain events, common in semi-arid environments, ET would be expected to impose negative forcing on the surface dv. The variability of D-excess in ET fluxes therefore needs to be considered when using dv to study moisture recycling and during extended dry periods may act as a tracer of the relative humidity of the oceanic moisture source.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document