Articles | Volume 17, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14085-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14085-2017
Research article
 | 
27 Nov 2017
Research article |  | 27 Nov 2017

Intercomparison of stratospheric temperature profiles from a ground-based microwave radiometer with other techniques

Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Niklaus Kämpfer, Franziska Schranz, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, and Alexander Haefele

Abstract. In this work the stratospheric performance of a relatively new microwave temperature radiometer (TEMPERA) has been evaluated. With this goal in mind, almost 3 years of temperature measurements (January 2014–September 2016) from the TEMPERA radiometer were intercompared with simultaneous measurements from other techniques: radiosondes, MLS satellite and Rayleigh lidar. This intercomparison campaign was carried out at the aerological station of MeteoSwiss at Payerne (Switzerland). In addition, the temperature profiles from TEMPERA were used to validate the temperature outputs from the SD-WACCM model. The results showed in general a very good agreement between TEMPERA and the different instruments and the model, with a high correlation (higher than 0.9) in the temperature evolution at different altitudes between TEMPERA and the different data sets. An annual pattern was observed in the stratospheric temperature with generally higher temperatures in summer than in winter and with a higher variability during winter. A clear change in the tendency of the temperature deviations was detected in summer 2015, which was due to the repair of an attenuator in the TEMPERA spectrometer. The mean and the standard deviations of the temperature differences between TEMPERA and the different measurements were calculated for two periods (before and after the repair) in order to quantify the accuracy and precision of this radiometer over the campaign period. The results showed absolute biases and standard deviations lower than 2 K for most of the altitudes. In addition, comparisons proved the good performance of TEMPERA in measuring the temperature in the stratosphere.

Download
Short summary
The paper presents assessment of the stratospheric measurements of a relatively new temperature radiometer (TEMPERA) at 60 GHz. The temperature profiles from TEMPERA have been compared with measurements from different techniques such as radiosondes, MLS satellite and Rayleigh lidar and with the temperature outputs from the SD-WACCM model. The results showed absolute biases and standard deviations lower than 2 K for most of the altitudes and comparisons, proving the good performance of TEMPERA.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint