Measurements of low amounts of precipitable water vapor by millimeter wave spectroscopy: An intercomparison with radiosonde, Raman lidar, and Fourier transform infrared data

Year: 2008

Authors: Fiorucci I., Muscari G., Bianchi C., Di Girolamo P., Esposito F., Grieco G., Summa D., Bianchini G., Palchetti L., Cacciani M., Iorio T.D., Pavese G., Cimini D., De Zafra R.L.

Autors Affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, I-00143 Rome, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitą di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Fisica dell\’Ambiente, Universitą della Basilicata, I-85100 Potenza, Italy; Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, CNR, I-50127 Florence, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitą di Roma la Sapienza, I-00185 Rome, Italy; Istituto di Metodologie per l\’Analisi Ambientale, CNR, I-85050 Potenza, Italy; CETEMPS, Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitą di l\’Aquila, I-67010 L\’Aquila, Italy; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, United States; Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, United States

Abstract: Observations of very low amounts of precipitable water vapor (PWV) by means of the Ground-Based Millimeter wave Spectrometer (GBMS) are discussed. Low amounts of column water vapor (between 0.5 and 4 mm) are typical of high mountain sites and polar regions, especially during winter, and are difficult to measure accurately because of the lack of sensitivity of conventional instruments to such low PWV contents. The technique used involves the measurement of atmospheric opacity in the range between 230 and 280 GHz with a spectral resolution of 4 GHz, followed by the conversion to precipitable water vapor using a linear relationship. We present the intercomparison of this data set with simultaneous PWV observations obtained with Vaisala RS92k radiosondes, a Raman lidar, and an IR Fourier transform spectrometer. These sets of measurements were carried out during the primary field campaign of the Earth Cooling by Water vapor Radiation (ECOWAR) project which took place at Breuil-Cervinia (45.9°N, 7.6°E, elevation 1990 m) and Plateau Rosa (45.9°N, 7.7°E, elevation 3490 m), Italy, from 3 to 16 March 2007. GBMS PWV measurements show a good agreement with the other three data sets exhibiting a mean difference between observations of ~9%. The considerable number of data points available for the GBMS versus lidar PWV correlation allows an additional analysis which indicates negligible systematic differences between the two data sets. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES

Volume: 113 (D14)      Pages from: D14314-1  to: D14314-12

KeyWords: Atmospherics; Cooling water; Infrared spectroscopy; Millimeter wave devices; Millimeter waves; Optical radar; Radiosondes; Spectrometers; Spectrometry; Water vapor, Atmospheric opacity; Conventional instruments; Data sets; Earth cooling; Field campaign; Fourier transform infrared; Fourier transform spectrometers; Ground based; High mountains; Intercomparisons; Linear relationships; Millimeter-wave spectrometers; Millimeter-wave spectroscopy; Number of datum; Polar Regions; Precipitable water vapor; Raman LIDAR, Fourier transforms, atmospheric chemistry; FTIR spectroscopy; infrared spectroscopy; lidar; polar region; precipitable water; radiosonde; water vapor, Cervinia
DOI: 10.1029/2008JD009831

Citations: 20
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