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On a relationship for estimating precipitable water vapour aloft from surface humidity over West Africa
Author(s) -
Adedokun J. A.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0196-1748
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370060205
Subject(s) - precipitable water , dew point , humidity , monsoon , environmental science , climatology , water vapor , atmospheric sciences , dew , geography , meteorology , geology , condensation
A relationship of the form W = αq b (α, b constants) has been established between precipitable water W (cm) aloft and the surface specific humidity, q (g/kg) over West Africa using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique on upper air climatological data spanning over a decade. Owing to the difference in the climatological patterns of the precipitable water between the southern and northern zones of the region, no single relationship was found suitable for both zones. Consequently, separate values of α, b have been obtained for each of the Northern and Southern zones; namely for the Northern zone (α, b ) = (0.271, 1.039) and for the Southern zone, (α, b ) = (6.45 × 10 −4 , 3.154). Initial tests carried out on the model using daily soundings made over the region during the West African Monsoon Experiment (WAMEX) gave encouraging results as established by use of Kolmogorov‐Smirnov tests. Earlier models, generally of the form: In W = A + Bt d ( A, B constants and t d , dew‐point temperature (°F)) tried on the same basis were found to be rather inadequate over the region.