Low-level water vapor fields from the VISSR atmospheric sounder (VAS) ' split window' channels ( North America).

Abstract

A simple physical algorithm is developed which calculates the water vapor content of the lower troposphere from the 11 and 12 micrometre (split window) channels on the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). The algorithm is applied to a time series of VAS split window radiances observed at 15 km horizontal resolution over eastern N America during a 12 hour period on 13 July 1981. Color coded images of the derived precipitable water (g cm-2) fields show vivid water vapor features whose broad structure and evolution are verified by the radiosonde and surface networks. -from Authors