SPARC data initiative: Comparison of water vapor climatologies from international satellite limb sounders.

Hegglin, M. I., Tegtmeier, Susann, Anderson, J., Froidevaux, L., Fuller, R., Funke, B., Jones, A., Lingenfelser, G., Lumpe, J., Pendlebury, D., Remsberg, E., Rozanov, A., Toohey, Matthew , Urban, J., von Clarmann, T., Walker, K. A., Wang, R. and Weigel, K. (2013) SPARC data initiative: Comparison of water vapor climatologies from international satellite limb sounders. Open Access Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118 (20). pp. 11824-11846. DOI 10.1002/jgrd.50752.

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Supplementary data:

Abstract

Within the SPARC Data Initiative, the first comprehensive assessment of the quality of 13 water vapor products from 11 limb-viewing satellite instruments (LIMS, SAGE II, UARS-MLS, HALOE, POAM III, SMR, SAGE III, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, ACE-FTS, and Aura-MLS) obtained within the time period 1978-2010 has been performed. Each instrument's water vapor profile measurements were compiled into monthly zonal mean time series on a common latitude-pressure grid. These time series serve as basis for the ‘climatological’ validation approach used within the project. The evaluations include comparisons of monthly or annual zonal mean cross-sections and seasonal cycles in the tropical and extra-tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere averaged over one or more years, comparisons of inter-annual variability, and a study of the time evolution of physical features in water vapor such as the tropical tape recorder and polar vortex dehydration. Our knowledge of the atmospheric mean state in water vapor is best in the lower and middle stratosphere of the tropics and mid-latitudes, with a relative uncertainty of ±2-6% (as quantified by the standard deviation of the instruments’ multi-annual means). The uncertainty increases towards the polar regions (±10-15%), the mesosphere (±15%), and the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere below 100 hPa (±30-50%), where sampling issues add uncertainty due to large gradients and high natural variability in water vapor. The minimum found in multi-annual (1998-2008) mean water vapor in the tropical lower stratosphere is 3.5 ppmv (±14%), with slightly larger uncertainties for monthly mean values. The frequently used HALOE water vapor dataset shows consistently lower values than most other datasets throughout the atmosphere, with increasing deviations from the multi-instrument mean below 100 hPa in both the tropics and extra-tropics. The knowledge gained from these comparisons and regarding the quality of the individual datasets in different regions of the atmosphere will help to improve model-measurement comparisons (e.g. for diagnostics such as the tropical tape recorder or seasonal cycles), data merging activities, and studies of climate variability.

Document Type: Article
Funder compliance: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/226224
Keywords: stratospheric water vapor; satellite limb sounders; multi-instrument comparison; SPARC Data Initiative; data validation; water vapor climatologies
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB1 Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics > FB1-ME Maritime Meteorology
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: AGU (American Geophysical Union), Wiley
Projects: WCRP, TRANSBROM, SHIVA, SHARP, Future Ocean
Date Deposited: 18 Oct 2013 07:16
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2018 13:11
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/22159

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