Evaluation of total column water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses within the GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment

Trent, Tim; Schröder, Marc; Ho, Shu-Peng; Beirle, Steffen; Bennartz, Ralf; Borbas, Eva; Borger, Christian; Brogniez, Helene; Calbet, Xavier; Castelli, Elisa; Compo, Gilbert P.; Ebisuzaki, Wesley; Falk, Ulrike; Fell, Frank; Forsythe, John; Hersbach, Hans; Kachi, Misako; Kobayashi, Shinya; Kursinski, Robert E.; Loyola, Diego; Luo, Zhengzao; Nielsen, Johannes K.; Papandrea, Enzo; Picon, Laurence; Preusker, Rene; Reale, Anthony; Shi, Lei; Slivinski, Laura; Teixeira, Joao; Vonder Haar, Tom; Wagner, Thomas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 16

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Analysis of atmospheric water vapour observations and their...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 16

Research article

|

30 Aug 2024

Research article |

| 30 Aug 2024

Evaluation of total column water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses within the GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment

Tim Trent, Marc Schröder, Shu-Peng Ho, Steffen Beirle, Ralf Bennartz, Eva Borbas, Christian Borger, Helene Brogniez, Xavier Calbet, Elisa Castelli, Gilbert P. Compo, Wesley Ebisuzaki, Ulrike Falk, Frank Fell, John Forsythe, Hans Hersbach, Misako Kachi, Shinya Kobayashi, Robert E. Kursinski, Diego Loyola, Zhengzao Luo, Johannes K. Nielsen, Enzo Papandrea, Laurence Picon, Rene Preusker, Anthony Reale, Lei Shi, Laura Slivinski, Joao Teixeira, Tom Vonder Haar, and Thomas Wagner

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9667-2024-supplement

Data sets

The GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment archive of water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses Marc Schröder et al. https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/GVAP/V001

A combined high resolution global TCWV product from microwave and near infrared imagers - COMBI Marc Schröder et al. https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/COMBI/V001

Aqua/AIRS L3 Monthly Standard Physical Retrieval (AIRS+AMSU) 1 degree x 1 degree V7.0 AIRS project https://doi.org/10.5067/KUC55JEVO1SR

The GOME-Evolution total column water vapor "climate" product (Version 2.2) Steffen Beirle et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/WDCC/GOME-EVL_water_vapor_clim_v2.2

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

MODIS Atmosphere L3 Monthly Product S. Platnick et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD08_M3.061

MODIS Atmosphere L3 Monthly Product S. Platnick et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD08_M3.061

MPIC OMI Total Column Water Vapour (TCWV) Climate Data Record Christian Borger et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7973889

NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis (V2c) Physical Sciences Laboratory https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.20thC_ReanV2c.html

NOAA/CIRES/DOE 20th Century Reanalysis (V3) Physical Sciences Laboratory https://www.psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.20thC_ReanV3.html

NCEP/DOE Reanalysis II Physical Sciences Laboratory https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html

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Short summary

In a warmer future, water vapour will spend more time in the atmosphere, changing global rainfall patterns. In this study, we analysed the performance of 28 water vapour records between 1988 and 2014. We find sensitivity to surface warming generally outside expected ranges, attributed to breakpoints in individual record trends and differing representations of climate variability. The implication is that longer records are required for high confidence in assessing climate trends.