Intersatellite bias of the high-resolution infrared radiation sounder water vapor channel determined using ISCCP B1 data

摘要

Information on the distribution and transport of upper tropospheric humidity helps our understanding of atmospheric circulation. However, efforts to develop a dataset that is not diurnally biased--that is, one that is based on geostationary data--have been hindered by a lack of intercalibration of the historical geostationary satellite water vapor channels. Toward this end, the high-resolution infrared radiation sounder (HIRS) intersatellite bias is determined by using collocated observations of geostationary and HIRS to compute monthly biases between HIRS instruments on different satellites. The resulting HIRS intersatellite bias then allows the construction of a temporally consistent HIRS record, from which geostationary satellite water vapor channels can be intercalibrated. This intercalibration will allow a uniform analysis of upper tropospheric water vapor.