New paper about upper-air water vapour measurement techniques

New paper about upper-air water vapour measurement techniques

The paper entitled “Quality assessment of Izana’s upper-air water vapour measurement techniques: FTIR, Cimel, MFRSR, GPS, and Vaisala RS92” by M. Schneider, P. M. Romero, F. Hase, T. Blumenstock, E. Cuevas, and R. Ramos, has been published as a discussion paper in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions (AMTD), the scientific discussion forum of AMT.

The paper is now accessible and open for Interactive Public Discussion until 7 September 2009 at: http://www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/2/1625/2009/amtd-2-1625-2009.pdf

This paper is focused on water vapour amounts measured routinely at the Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre by different techniques. Total precipitable water vapour amounts measured between 2005 and 2009 by a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, a Multifilter rotating shadow-band radiometer (MFRSR), a Cimel sunphotometer, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, and daily radiosondes (Vaisala RS92) are intercompared. In addition the water vapour profiles measured by the FTIR are compared with radiosondes performed with the RS92. Data quality of the different techniques is analyzed, and the dry bias of the techniques which are restricted to sun observations (radiometric techniques) is estimated.