The retrieval of atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water over the oceans from a simple radiative transfer model: application to SSM/I data

Author

Guissard, Albert

Author_Institution

Lab. de Telecommun., Univ. Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Volume

36

Issue

1

fYear

1998

fDate

1/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

328

Lastpage

332

Abstract

A radiative transfer model is described for the evaluation of the brightness temperatures measured by microwave radiometers above the oceans. For observations at an incidence angle around 50° from the local vertical, a crude approximation of this model is providing the basis for a wind-independent inversion algorithm for the retrieval of atmospheric integrated water vapor and cloud liquid water. The algorithm is applied to special sensor microwave imager (SSM/I) data, and the results compared with estimates from the ECMWF climatological model and from the algorithms specifically developed for SSM/I. A short discussion on the accuracy of the algorithm is also provided

Keywords

atmospheric humidity; atmospheric techniques; clouds; humidity measurement; microwave measurement; millimetre wave measurement; radiometry; remote sensing; EHF; SHF; SSM/I; brightness temperature; cloud liquid water; humidity; incidence angle; inversion algorithm; marine atmosphere; measurement technique; microwave radiometry; mm wave; radiative transfer model; remote sensing; retrieval; troposphere; water vapor; water vapour; Approximation algorithms; Atmospheric measurements; Atmospheric modeling; Brightness temperature; Clouds; Microwave measurements; Oceans; Radiometers; Sea measurements; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/36.655346

Filename

655346