Abstract

Layer moisture and temperature are important variables for forecasting local weather phenomena. The purpose of ths paper is to present a method to rapidly compute layer average relative humidities and geopotential thicknesses from satellite measurements of atmospheric water vapor and oxygen radiation emission to space. Both polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite data are considered. Analyses show that the relative humidity and geopotential thickness patterns from satellite data are consistent with radiosonde data. The relative humidity calculation is insensitive to the assumed temperature profile condition. It is shown that time variations of the atmospheric moisture can be monitored from a GOES-4 VAS sequential image. Also an attempt is made to derive the atmospheric stability index, total–totals, by use of satellite derived relative humidities and geopotential thicknesses. The results show good correspondence between the derived stability patterns and subsequent convective weather.

© 1982 Optical Society of America

Atmospheric soundings from a geostationary satellite

W. Paul Menzel, Wiliam L. Smith, Gary S. Wade, Leroy D. Herman, and Christopher M. Hayden
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Fast transmittance model for satellite sounding

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Comparison of radiances observed from satellite and aircraft with calculations by using two atmospheric transmittance models

D. G. K. Murty, W. L. Smith, H. M. Woolf, and C. M. Hayden
Appl. Opt. 32(9) 1620-1628 (1993)

Visible infrared spin–scan radiometer atmospheric sounder radiometric calibration: an inflight evaluation from intercomparisons with HIRS and radiosonde measurements

W. Paul Menzel, William L. Smith, and Leroy D. Herman
Appl. Opt. 20(20) 3641-3644 (1981)

Retrieval of atmospheric-temperature and water-vapor profiles by use of combined satellite and ground-based infrared spectral-radiance measurements

Shu-Peng Ho, William L. Smith, and Hung-Lung Huang
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