Atmospheric Liquid Water Content Derived from Parameterization of Nimbus 6 Scanning Microwave Spectrometer Data

Abstract

An empirical-theoretical method to determine liquid water content and water vapor amount over land surfaces from Nimbus 6 SCAMS channels is described. The method is based on parameterization of the resulting calculations from the microwave radiative transfer program involving clouds and precipitation. Brightness temperatures selected from satellite passes for five days over the United States are used to test the empirical parameterization method. Liquid water contents derived from the SCAMS data for two days show close comparison with NOAA 6 satellite mosaics as well as values inferred from Nimbus 6 HIRS sounders for the same time period reported previously by Feddes and Liou (1978) in this journal. Applications of the present technique to mesoscale mapping of liquid water content are displayed and its limitation is further discussed.