A Water Vapor Index from Satellite Measurements

Abstract

A method for deriving a water vapor index is presented. An important feature of the index is the fact that it does not rely on radiosondes. Thus, it is not influenced by problems associated with radiosondes and the extent to which the horizontal variability of moisture invalidates the extrapolations from radiosonde measurements to satellite measurements. The index is derived by using channels that are insensitive to changes in moisture to predict a brightness temperature for one of the moisture channels and then by subtracting this predicted value from the observation. The predicted value represents the moisture value expected for the given temperature profile, and the difference between the predicted and measured values is the index. The subtraction removes the variability due to changes in atmospheric temperature from the moisture signal. This separation greatly enhances the ability to monitor atmospheric moisture patterns, especially near the ground and at high latitudes where some alternative methods have difficulties. The ability of the indices to display moisture patterns at all levels and latitudes is demonstrated.