The need for accurate long‐term measurements of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere with global coverage

Müller, Rolf; Kunz, A.; Hurst, D. F.; Rolf, Christian; Krämer, M.; Riese, Martin

doi:10.1002/2015ef000321

Cited by 39 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Given the water vapor offsets between the satellite instruments demonstrated here, the potential data gap in the water vapor record would severely impact our confidence in characterizing decadal variability and trends in water vapor. As discussed by Müller et al (2016) and demonstrated in this paper, it is possible that a global network of balloon-borne hygrometer measurements could help serve as a transfer standard between satellites and minimize the impact of a potential water vapor data gap in the satellite record.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stratospheric Water and Ozone Satellite Homogenized (SWOOSH) database: a long-term database for climate studies

Davis

Rosenlof

Haßler

et al. 2016

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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163

195

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Abstract. In this paper, we describe the construction of the Stratospheric Water and Ozone Satellite Homogenized (SWOOSH) database, which includes vertically resolved ozone and water vapor data from a subset of the limb profiling satellite instruments operating since the 1980s. The primary SWOOSH products are zonal-mean monthly-mean time series of water vapor and ozone mixing ratio on pressure levels (12 levels per decade from 316 to 1 hPa). The SWOOSH pressure level products are provided on several independent zonal-mean grids (2.5, 5, and 10 • ), and additional products include two coarse 3-D griddings (30 • long × 10 • lat, 20 • × 5 • ) as well as a zonal-mean isentropic product. SWOOSH includes both individual satellite source data as well as a merged data product. A key aspect of the merged product is that the source records are homogenized to account for inter-satellite biases and to minimize artificial jumps in the record. We describe the SWOOSH homogenization process, which involves adjusting the satellite data records to a "reference" satellite using coincident observations during time periods of instrument overlap. The reference satellite is chosen based on the best agreement with independent balloon-based sounding measurements, with the goal of producing a long-term data record that is both homogeneous (i.e., with minimal artificial jumps in time) and accurate (i.e., unbiased). This paper details the choice of reference measurements, homogenization, and gridding process involved in the construction of the combined SWOOSH product and also presents the ancillary information stored in SWOOSH that can be used in future studies of water vapor and ozone variability. Furthermore, a discussion of uncertainties in the combined SWOOSH record is presented, and examples of the SWOOSH record are provided to illustrate its use for studies of ozone and water vapor variability on interannual to decadal timescales. The version 2.5 SWOOSH data are

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stratospheric Water and Ozone Satellite Homogenized (SWOOSH) database: a long-term database for climate studies

Davis

Rosenlof

Haßler

et al. 2016

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

Self Cite

163

195

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“…The second approach determines the calibration factor using simultaneous measurements from a collocated reference instrument. Approaches on this second technique include water vapor comparisons with radiosondes, satellites and microwave radiometers (Ferrare et al, 1995;Mattis et al, 2002;Miloshevich et al, 2004;Madonna et al, 2011;Leblanc et al, 2012;Reichardt et al, 2012;Navas-Guzmán et al, 2014;Foth et al, 2015). The accuracy of the calibration factor derived using these techniques fluctuates between 5 and 10 %.…”

Section: Lidar Water Vapor Calibration Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the wind-driven drifting of the device can be misleading in terms of geographical location of the vertical information. In contrast, remote sensing techniques such as microwave radiometers (England et al, 1992;Reagan et al, 1995), differential absorption lidars (DIALs) (Bösenberg, 1998), photometers (Barreto et al, 2013) and Raman lidars Ferrare et al, 1995;Turner et al, 2002;Whiteman, 2003;Leblanc et al, 2012;Navas-Guzmán et al, 2014;Foth et al, 2015) have been successfully adopted in water vapor studies. While microwave radiometers and photometers can accurately deliver the total precipitable water vapor (TPW), lidars (DIAL and Raman) are the only instruments available for high temporal and vertical resolution of continuous WVMR measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Profiling water vapor mixing ratios in Finland by means of a Raman lidar, a satellite and a model

Filioglou¹,

Franck²,

Niemelä³

et al. 2017

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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crease in water vapor mixing ratios is observed, except during summer months where favorable atmospheric conditions enable higher mixing ratio values at higher altitudes. Lastly, the seasonal change in disagreement between the lidar and the model has been studied. The analysis showed that, on average, the model underestimates water vapor mixing ratios at high altitudes during spring and summer.Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

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“…They are also well suited to investigate long-term changes in the stratosphere. In particular, for the investigation of long-term changes, high precision and accuracy are needed in combination with rather low costs (Müller et al, 2016;Moore et al, 2014). Most in situ measurements in the stratosphere require the use of large and expensive balloons to carry instruments above altitudes of 20 km.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An extension of the AirCore technique to other tracers gases as suggested by may provide a valuable addition as these gases can also be used to study long-term changes in the stratosphere. Müller et al (2016) suggested that a long-term network for water vapour measurements in the stratosphere should be set up to monitor this radiatively important trace gas. We suggest that such a network could be complemented by AirCore observations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mean age of stratospheric air derived from AirCore observations

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Mean age of stratospheric air can be derived from observations of sufficiently long-lived trace gases with approximately linear trends in the troposphere. Mean age can serve as a tracer to investigate stratospheric transport and long-term changes in the strength of the overturning BrewerDobson circulation of the stratosphere. For this purpose, a low-cost method is required in order to allow for regular observations up to altitudes of about 30 km. Despite the desired low costs, high precision and accuracy are required in order to determine mean age. We present balloonborne AirCore observations from two midlatitude sites: Timmins in Ontario/Canada and Lindenberg in Germany. During the Timmins campaign, five AirCores sampled air in parallel with a large stratospheric balloon and were analysed for CO 2 , CH 4 and partly CO. We show that there is good agreement between the different AirCores (better than 0.1 %), especially when vertical gradients are small. The measurements from Lindenberg were performed using small low-cost balloons and yielded very comparable results. We have used the observations to extend our long-term data set of mean age observations at Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes. The time series now covers more than 40 years and shows a small, statistically non-significant positive trend of 0.15 ± 0.18 years decade −1 . This trend is slightly smaller than the previous estimate of 0.24 ± 0.22 years decade −1 which was based on observations up to the year 2006. These observations are still in contrast to strong negative trends of mean age as derived from some model calculations.

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The need for accurate long‐term measurements of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere with global coverage

Cited by 39 publications

References 62 publications

The Stratospheric Water and Ozone Satellite Homogenized (SWOOSH) database: a long-term database for climate studies

The Stratospheric Water and Ozone Satellite Homogenized (SWOOSH) database: a long-term database for climate studies

Profiling water vapor mixing ratios in Finland by means of a Raman lidar, a satellite and a model

Mean age of stratospheric air derived from AirCore observations

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