1. |
- Arndt, D. S., et al.
(author)
-
STATE OF THE CLIMATE IN 2017
- 2018
-
In: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - : American Meteorological Society. - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 99:8, s. S1-S310
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)
|
|
2. |
- Arndt, D. S., et al.
(author)
-
State of the Climate in 2016
- 2017
-
In: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 98:8, s. S1-S280
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In 2016, the dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth's atmosphere-carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide-continued to increase and reach new record highs. The 3.5 +/- 0.1 ppm rise in global annual mean carbon dioxide from 2015 to 2016 was the largest annual increase observed in the 58-year measurement record. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth's surface surpassed 400 ppm (402.9 +/- 0.1 ppm) for the first time in the modern atmospheric measurement record and in ice core records dating back as far as 800000 years. One of the strongest El Nino events since at least 1950 dissipated in spring, and a weak La Nina evolved later in the year. Owing at least in part to the combination of El Nino conditions early in the year and a long-term upward trend, Earth's surface observed record warmth for a third consecutive year, albeit by a much slimmer margin than by which that record was set in 2015. Above Earth's surface, the annual lower troposphere temperature was record high according to all datasets analyzed, while the lower stratospheric temperature was record low according to most of the in situ and satellite datasets. Several countries, including Mexico and India, reported record high annual temperatures while many others observed near-record highs. A week-long heat wave at the end of April over the northern and eastern Indian peninsula, with temperatures surpassing 44 degrees C, contributed to a water crisis for 330 million people and to 300 fatalities. In the Arctic the 2016 land surface temperature was 2.0 degrees C above the 1981-2010 average, breaking the previous record of 2007, 2011, and 2015 by 0.8 degrees C, representing a 3.5 degrees C increase since the record began in 1900. The increasing temperatures have led to decreasing Arctic sea ice extent and thickness. On 24 March, the sea ice extent at the end of the growth season saw its lowest maximum in the 37-year satellite record, tying with 2015 at 7.2% below the 1981-2010 average. The September 2016 Arctic sea ice minimum extent tied with 2007 for the second lowest value on record, 33% lower than the 1981-2010 average. Arctic sea ice cover remains relatively young and thin, making it vulnerable to continued extensive melt. The mass of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which has the capacity to contribute similar to 7 m to sea level rise, reached a record low value. The onset of its surface melt was the second earliest, after 2012, in the 37-year satellite record. Sea surface temperature was record high at the global scale, surpassing the previous record of 2015 by about 0.01 degrees C. The global sea surface temperature trend for the 21st century-to-date of +0.162 degrees C decade(-1) is much higher than the longer term 1950-2016 trend of +0.100 degrees C decade(-1). Global annual mean sea level also reached a new record high, marking the sixth consecutive year of increase. Global annual ocean heat content saw a slight drop compared to the record high in 2015. Alpine glacier retreat continued around the globe, and preliminary data indicate that 2016 is the 37th consecutive year of negative annual mass balance. Across the Northern Hemisphere, snow cover for each month from February to June was among its four least extensive in the 47-year satellite record. Continuing a pattern below the surface, record high temperatures at 20-m depth were measured at all permafrost observatories on the North Slope of Alaska and at the Canadian observatory on northernmost Ellesmere Island. In the Antarctic, record low monthly surface pressures were broken at many stations, with the southern annular mode setting record high index values in March and June. Monthly high surface pressure records for August and November were set at several stations. During this period, record low daily and monthly sea ice extents were observed, with the November mean sea ice extent more than 5 standard deviations below the 1981-2010 average. These record low sea ice values contrast sharply with the record high values observed during 2012-14. Over the region, springtime Antarctic stratospheric ozone depletion was less severe relative to the 1991-2006 average, but ozone levels were still low compared to pre-1990 levels. Closer to the equator, 93 named tropical storms were observed during 2016, above the 1981-2010 average of 82, but fewer than the 101 storms recorded in 2015. Three basins-the North Atlantic, and eastern and western North Pacific-experienced above-normal activity in 2016. The Australian basin recorded its least active season since the beginning of the satellite era in 1970. Overall, four tropical cyclones reached the Saffir-Simpson category 5 intensity level. The strong El Nino at the beginning of the year that transitioned to a weak La Nina contributed to enhanced precipitation variability around the world. Wet conditions were observed throughout the year across southern South America, causing repeated heavy flooding in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Wetter-than-usual conditions were also observed for eastern Europe and central Asia, alleviating the drought conditions of 2014 and 2015 in southern Russia. In the United States, California had its first wetter-than-average year since 2012, after being plagued by drought for several years. Even so, the area covered by drought in 2016 at the global scale was among the largest in the post-1950 record. For each month, at least 12% of land surfaces experienced severe drought conditions or worse, the longest such stretch in the record. In northeastern Brazil, drought conditions were observed for the fifth consecutive year, making this the longest drought on record in the region. Dry conditions were also observed in western Bolivia and Peru; it was Bolivia's worst drought in the past 25 years. In May, with abnormally warm and dry conditions already prevailing over western Canada for about a year, the human-induced Fort McMurray wildfire burned nearly 590000 hectares and became the costliest disaster in Canadian history, with $3 billion (U.S. dollars) in insured losses.
|
|
3. |
- Ades, M., et al.
(author)
-
Global Climate : in State of the climate in 2019
- 2020
-
In: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - : American Meteorological Society. - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 101:8, s. S17-S127
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)
|
|
4. |
- Ades, M., et al.
(author)
-
GLOBAL CLIMATE
- 2020
-
In: BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 101:8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)
|
|
5. |
- Larsson, Richard, et al.
(author)
-
Modeling the Zeeman effect in high altitude SSMIS channels for numerical weather prediction profiles : Comparing a fast model and a line-by-line model
- 2016
-
In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 9:2, s. 841-857
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a comparison of a reference and a fast radiative transfer model using numerical weather prediction profiles for the Zeeman-affected high altitude Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder channels 19–22. We find that the models agree well for channels 21 and 22 compared to the channels' system noise temperatures (1.9 and 1.3 K, respectively) and the expected profile errors at the affected altitudes (estimated to be around 5 K). For channel 22 there is a 0.5 K average difference between the models, with a standard deviation of 0.24 K for the full set of atmospheric profiles. Same channel, there is 1.2 K in average between the fast model and the sensor measurement, with 1.4 K standard deviation. For channel 21 there is a 0.9 K average difference between the models, with a standard deviation of 0.56 K. Same channel, there is 1.3 K in average between the fast model and the sensor measurement, with 2.4 K standard deviation. We consider the relatively small model differences as a validation of the fast Zeeman effect scheme for these channels. Both channels 19 and 20 have smaller average differences between the models (at below 0.2 K) and smaller standard deviations (at below 0.4 K) when both models use a two-dimensional magnetic field profile. However, when the reference model is switched to using a full three-dimensional magnetic field profile, the standard deviation to the fast model is increased to almost 2 K due to viewing geometry dependencies causing up to ± 7 K differences near the equator. The average differences between the two models remain small despite changing magnetic field configurations. We are unable to compare channels 19 and 20 to sensor measurements due to limited altitude range of the numerical weather prediction profiles. We recommended that numerical weather prediction software using the fast model takes the available fast Zeeman scheme into account for data assimilation of the affected sensor channels to better constrain the upper atmospheric temperatures.
|
|
6. |
- Buehler, Stefan, et al.
(author)
-
A cloud filtering method for microwave upper tropospheric humidity measurements
- 2007
-
In: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 7:21, s. 5531-5542
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper presents a cloud filtering method for upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) measurements at 183.31±1.00 GHz. The method uses two criteria: a viewing angle dependent threshold on the brightness temperature at 183.31±1.00 GHz, and a threshold on the brightness temperature difference between another channel and 183.31±1.00 GHz. Two different alternatives, using 183.31±3.00 GHz or 183.31±7.00 GHz as the other channel, are studied. The robustness of this cloud filtering method is demonstrated by a mid-latitudes winter case study. The paper then studies different biases on UTH climatologies. Clouds are associated with high humidity, therefore the possible dry bias introduced by cloud filtering is discussed and compared to the wet biases introduced by the clouds radiative effect if no filtering is done. This is done by means of a case study, and by means of a stochastic cloud database with representative statistics for midlatitude conditions. Both studied filter alternatives perform nearly equally well, but the alternative using 183.31±3.00 GHz as other channel is preferable, because that channel is less likely to see the Earth's surface than the one at 183.31±7.00 GHz. The consistent result of all case studies and for both filter alternatives is that both cloud wet bias and cloud filtering dry bias are modest for microwave data. The recommended strategy is to use the cloud filtered data as an estimate for the true all-sky UTH value, but retain the unfiltered data to have an estimate of the cloud induced uncertainty. The focus of the paper is on midlatitude data, since atmospheric data to test the filter for that case were readily available. The filter is expected to be applicable also to subtropical and tropical data, but should be further validated with case studies similar to the one presented here for those cases.
|
|
7. |
- Buehler, Stefan, et al.
(author)
-
Radiative transfer calculations for a passive microwave satellite sensor : comparing a fast model and a line-by-line model
- 2006
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 111:20, s. 20304-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A comparison between the fast radiative transfer model Radiative Transfer for the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (RTTOV-7) and the physical radiative transfer model Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator ( ARTS) was carried out. Radiances were simulated for the sounding channels of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit B (AMSU-B) for the whole globe for a single time of a single day ( 1 January 2000, 0000 UT). Temperature, pressure, and specific humidity profiles from the reanalysis data set ERA-40 of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) were used as input for both models; geopotential height profiles were also used but only as input for ARTS. The simulations were made for two different surface emissivities, 0.60 and 0.95. The low surface emissivity case exhibits the larger radiance differences. Although the global values of the mean difference and standard deviation are small ( for example, the global mean difference for channel 18 is 0.014 K and the standard deviation is 0.232 K), the examination of the geographical distribution of the differences shows that large positive or negative values are observed over dry regions of high northern and southern latitudes and over dry elevated regions. The origin of these differences was found to be due to errors introduced by the transmittance parametrization used in RTTOV.
|
|
8. |
- Buehler, Stefan, et al.
(author)
-
Recent developments in the line-by-line modeling of outgoing longwave radiation
- 2006
-
In: Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-4073 .- 1879-1352. ; 98:3, s. 446-457
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High frequency resolution radiative transfer model calculations with the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) were used to simulate the clear-sky outgoing longwave radiative flux (OLR) at the top of the atmosphere. Compared to earlier calculations by Clough and coworkers the model used a spherical atmosphere instead of a plane parallel atmosphere, updated spectroscopic parameters from HITRAN, and updated continuum parameterizations from Mlawer and coworkers. These modifications lead to a reduction in simulated OLR by approximately 4.1%, the largest part, approximately 2.5%, being due to the absence of the plane parallel approximation. As a simple application of the new model, the sensitivity of OLR to changes in humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature were investigated for different cloud-free atmospheric scenarios. It was found that for the tropical scenario a 20% change in humidity has a larger impact than a doubling of the carbon dioxide concentration. The sensitive altitude region for temperature and humidity changes is the entire free troposphere, including the upper troposphere where humidity data quality is poor.
|
|
9. |
- John, Viju Oommen, et al.
(author)
-
A cautionary note on the use of Gaussian statistics in satellite-based UTH climatologies
- 2006
-
In: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. - 1545-598X .- 1558-0571. ; 3:1, s. 130-134
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This letter presents a cautionary note on the assumption of Gaussian behavior for upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) derived from satellite data in climatological studies, which can introduce a wet bias in the climatology. An example study using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis data shows that this wet bias can reach up to 6 %RH, which is significant for climatological applications. A simple Monte Carlo approach demonstrates that these differences and their link to the variability of brightness temperatures are due to a log-normal distribution of the UTH. This problem can be solved by using robust estimators such as the median instead of the arithmetic mean.
|
|
10. |
- John, Viju O., et al.
(author)
-
Assessment of intercalibration methods for satellite microwave humidity sounders
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2169-897X .- 2169-8996. ; 118:10, s. 4906-4918
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Three methods for ntercalibrating humidity sounding channels are compared to assess their merits and demerits. The methods use the following: (1) natural targets (Antarctica and tropical oceans), (2) zonal average brightness temperatures, and (3) simultaneous nadir overpasses (SNOs). Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B instruments onboard the polar-orbiting NOAA 15 and NOAA 16 satellites are used as examples. Antarctica is shown to be useful for identifying some of the instrument problems but less promising for intercalibrating humidity sounders due to the large diurnal variations there. Owing to smaller diurnal cycles over tropical oceans, these are found to be a good target for estimating intersatellite biases. Estimated biases are more resistant to diurnal differences when data from ascending and descending passes are combined. Biases estimated from zonal-averaged brightness temperatures show large seasonal and latitude dependence which could have resulted from diurnal cycle aliasing and scene-radiance dependence of the biases. This method may not be the best for channels with significant surface contributions. We have also tested the impact of clouds on the estimated biases and found that it is not significant, at least for tropical ocean estimates. Biases estimated from SNOs are the least influenced by diurnal cycle aliasing and cloud impacts. However, SNOs cover only relatively small part of the dynamic range of observed brightness temperatures
|
|
11. |
- John, Viju O, et al.
(author)
-
Clear-sky biases in satellite infrared estimates of upper tropospheric humidity and its trends
- 2011
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 116
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We use microwave retrievals of upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) to estimate the impact of clear-sky-only sampling by infrared instruments on the distribution, variability, and trends in UTH. Our method isolates the impact of the clear-sky-only sampling, without convolving errors from other sources. On daily time scales, IR-sampled UTH contains large data gaps in convectively active areas, with only about 20-30 % of the tropics (30 degrees S-30 degrees N) being sampled. This results in a dry bias of about -9 % RH in the area-weighted tropical daily UTH time series. On monthly scales, maximum clear-sky bias (CSB) is up to -30 % RH over convectively active areas. The magnitude of CSB shows significant correlations with UTH itself (-0.5) and also with the variability in UTH (-0.6). We also show that IR-sampled UTH time series have higher interannual variability and smaller trends compared to microwave sampling. We argue that a significant part of the smaller trend results from the contrasting influence of diurnal drift in the satellite measurements on the wet and dry regions of the tropics.
|
|
12. |
- John, Viju O., et al.
(author)
-
Monitoring scan asymmetry of microwave humidity sounding channels using simultaneous all angle collocations (SAACs)
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-8996 .- 2169-897X. ; 118:3, s. 1536-1545
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Simultaneous all angle collocations (SAACs) of microwave humidity sounders (AMSU-B and MHS) on-board polar orbiting satellites are used to estimate scan-dependent biases. This method has distinct advantages over previous methods, such as that the estimated scan-dependent biases are not influenced by diurnal differences between the edges of the scan and the biases can be estimated for both sides of the scan. We find the results are robust in the sense that biases estimated for one satellite pair can be reproduced by double differencing biases of these satellites with a third satellite. Channel 1 of these instruments shows the least bias for all satellites. Channel 2 has biases greater than 5 K, thus needs to be corrected. Channel 3 has biases of about 2 K and more and they are time varying for some of the satellites. Channel 4 has the largest bias which is about 15 K when the data are averaged for 5 years, but biases of individual months can be as large as 30 K. Channel 5 also has large and time varying biases for two of the AMSU-Bs. NOAA-15 (N15) channels are found to be affected the most, mainly due to radio frequency interference (RFI) from onboard data transmitters. Channel 4 of N15 shows the largest and time varying biases, so data of this channel should only be used with caution for climate applications. The two MHS instruments show the best agreement for all channels. Our estimates may be used to correct for scan-dependent biases of these instruments, or at least used as a guideline for excluding channels with large scan asymmetries from scientific analyses.
|
|
13. |
- John, Viju O., et al.
(author)
-
Understanding intersatellite biases of microwave humidity sounders using global simultaneous nadir overpasses
- 2012
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 117:D2
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Simultaneous nadir overpasses (SNOs) of polar-orbiting satellites are most frequent in polar areas but can occur at any latitude when the equatorial crossing times of the satellites become close owing to orbital drift. We use global SNOs of polar orbiting satellites to evaluate the intercalibration of microwave humidity sounders from the more frequent high-latitude SNOs. We have found based on sensitivity analyses that optimal distance and time thresholds for defining collocations are pixel centers less than 5 km apart and time differences less than 300 s. These stringent collocation criteria reduce the impact of highly variable surface or atmospheric conditions on the estimated biases. Uncertainties in the estimated biases are dominated by the combined radiometric noise of the instrument pair. The effects of frequency changes between different versions of the humidity sounders depend on the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. There are significant scene radiance and thus latitude dependencies in the estimated biases and this has to taken into account while intercalibrating microwave humidity sounders. Therefore the results obtained using polar SNOs will not be representative for moist regions, necessitating the use of global collocations for reliable intercalibration.
|
|
14. |
- John, Viju Oommen, et al.
(author)
-
Understanding the variability of clear-sky outgoing long-wave radiation based on ship-based temperature and water vapour measurements
- 2006
-
In: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. - : Wiley. - 0035-9009 .- 1477-870X. ; 132:621, s. 2675-2691
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High-resolution radiative transfer model calculations with the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) were used to simulate the clear-sky outgoing long-wave radiative flux (OLR) at the top of the atmosphere. The unique set of radiosonde data collected by the research vessel Polarstern of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research during 27 expeditions in the years 1982 to 2003 was used to investigate the sources of clear-sky OLR variability for ocean areas in different climate zones and seasons. For this dataset, tropospheric temperature variations contribute approximately 33 W m(-2) OLR variability. tropospheric relative humidity variations 8.5 W m(-2), and vertical structure 2.3-3.4 W m(-2). Of these, 0.3-1.0 W m(-2) are due to structures on a vertical scale smaller than 4 km, which cannot be resolved by conventional remote-sensing instruments. It was also found that the poor absolute accuracy of current humidity data in the upper troposphere, approximately 40% relative error in relative humidity, leads to a significant uncertainty in OLR of about 3.8 W m(-2) (for a midlatitude summer atmosphere), which should be put in the context of the double CO2 effect of only 2.6 W m(-2) (for the same atmosphere).
|
|
15. |
|
|
16. |
- Kottayil, Ajil, et al.
(author)
-
On the importance of Vaisala RS92 radiosonde humidity corrections for a better agreement between measured and modeled satellite radiances
- 2012
-
In: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. - 0739-0572 .- 1520-0426. ; 29:2, s. 248-259
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A study has been carried out to assess the importance of radiosonde corrections in improving the agreement between satellite and radiosonde measurements of upper-tropospheric humidity. Infrared [High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS)-12] and microwave [Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)-18] measurements from the NOAA-17 satellite were used for this purpose. The agreement was assessed by comparing the satellite measurements against simulated measurements using collocated radiosonde profiles of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program undertaken at tropical and midlatitude sites. The Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) was used to simulate the satellite radiances. The comparisons have been done under clear-sky conditions, separately for daytime and nighttime soundings. Only Vaisala RS92 radiosonde sensors were used and an empirical correction (EC) was applied to the radiosonde measurements. The EC includes correction for mean calibration bias and for solar radiation error, and it removes radiosonde bias relative to three instruments of known accuracy. For the nighttime dataset, the EC significantly reduces the bias from 0.63 to −0.10 K in AMSU-18 and from 1.26 to 0.35 K in HIRS-12. The EC has an even greater impact on the daytime dataset with a bias reduction from 2.38 to 0.28 K in AMSU-18 and from 2.51 to 0.59 K in HIRS-12. The present study promises a more accurate approach in future radiosonde-based studies in the upper troposphere.
|
|
17. |
|
|
18. |
- Moradi, Isaac, et al.
(author)
-
Comparing upper tropospheric humidity data from microwave satellite instruments and tropical radiosondes
- 2010
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 115:24
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Atmospheric humidity plays an important role in the Earth's climate. Microwave satellite data provide valuable humidity observations in the upper troposphere with global coverage. In this study, we compare upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) retrieved from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-B) and the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) against radiosonde data measured at four of the central facilities of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program. The Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) was used to simulate satellite brightness temperatures from the radiosonde profiles. Strong ice clouds were filtered out, as their influence on microwave measurements leads to incorrect UTH values. Day and night radiosonde profiles were analyzed separately, to take into account the radiosonde radiation bias. The comparison between radiosonde and satellite is most meaningful for data in cloud free, night time conditions, and with a time difference of less than 2 hours. We found good agreement between the two data sets. The satellite data are slightly moister than the radiosonde data, with a mean difference of 1-2.3 %RH, depending on the radiosonde site. Monthly gridded data were also compared, and showed slightly larger mean difference of up to 3.3 %RH, which can be explained by sampling issues.
|
|
19. |
- Moradi, Isaac, et al.
(author)
-
Comparing upper tropospheric humidity from microwave satellite instruments and IGRA radiosonde data
- 2010
-
In: 11th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment, MicroRad. - New York : IEEE Communications Society. - 9781424481200 ; , s. 146-151
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study, Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-B) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) observations are compared to radiosonde data from the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) dataset. This comparison can be used to evaluate the overall quality of the radiosonde data. Microwave satellite data are influenced by thick ice clouds and radiosonde data show a day-time radiation dry bias. Therefore, we used night-time cloud-free data of the year 2009 for the comparison. Overall, radiosonde data from the former Soviet Union were up to 30 %RH moister than satellite data and the the rest of the world were up to 6 %RH drier than satellite data.
|
|
20. |
- Moradi, Isaac, et al.
(author)
-
Evaluating instrumental inhomogeneities in global radiosonde upper tropospheric humidity data using microwave satellite data
- 2013
-
In: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. - 0196-2892 .- 1558-0644. ; 51:6, s. 3615-3624
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, the overall quality of the water vapor profiles of global operational radiosonde data for the period 2000-2009 is investigated using upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) retrieved from microwave satellite data. Overall, the nighttime radiosonde data showed a dry bias (-5% to-15%) over Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and systematically moist bias (greater than 30%) over China and the former Soviet Union. The nighttime sonde data from the U.S. and Canada showed a bias between-10% and 20%. Most stations indicated a daytime radiation dry bias, except for a few stations from the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. A sensorwise comparison showed a large nighttime wet bias for the Russian (MRZ-3A and MARS) and Chinese GZZ-2 sensors, a relatively small nighttime wet bias for the U.S. Sippican and VIZ-B2 sensors, and a nighttime dry bias for the Chinese GTS1, Vaisala (RS80-A, RS80-H, RS90, RS92K, and RS92-SGP), and the U.S. VIZ-MKII sensors. All sensors had a daytime radiation dry bias, except for the Russian MRZ-3A sensor that had a daytime radiation wet bias that could be because of the daytime radiation bias correction. Because of the large differences between different radiosonde sensors, it is essential for UTH studies to only use the data measured using a single type of sensor at any given station.
|
|
21. |
- Pietranera, Luca, et al.
(author)
-
Observing cosmic microwave background polarisation through ice
- 2007
-
In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 376:2, s. 645-650
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ice crystal clouds in the upper troposphere can generate polarization signals at the μK level. This signal can seriously affect very sensitive ground-based searches for E and B modes of cosmic microwave background polarization. In this paper, we estimate this effect within the CℓOVER experiment observing bands (97, 150 and 220 GHz) for the selected observing site (Llano de Chajnantor, Atacama desert, Chile). The results show that the polarization signal from the clouds can be of the order of or even bigger than the cosmic microwave background expected polarization. Climatological data suggest that this signal is fairly constant over the whole year in Antarctica. On the other hand, the stronger seasonal variability in Atacama allows for a 50 per cent of clean observations during the dry season.
|
|
22. |
- Xavier, Prince K., et al.
(author)
-
Variability of Indian summer monsoon in a new upper tropospheric humidity data set
- 2010
-
In: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 37:5, s. L05705-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using a new data set we demonstrate the variability of upper troposphere humidity (UTH) associated with the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). The main advantage of the new data set is its all-sky representation which is essential to capture the full variability of humidity even in cloudy areas. We show that UTH undergoes significant variations during the active/break phases of the monsoon and discuss the mechanisms. The interannual variations of monsoon are also well reflected in the UTH. A preliminary investigation into the cause of the 2009 monsoon failure reveals anomalous subsidence and suppressed convection over the monsoon region due to anomalous warm conditions in the equatorial Pacific throughout the summer. The large scale drying of the upper troposphere may also have contributed to a negative feedback in suppressing convection. Citation: Xavier, P. K., V. O. John, S. A. Buehler, R. S. Ajayamohan, and S. Sijikumar (2010), Variability of Indian summer monsoon in a new upper tropospheric humidity data set
|
|