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Homogenized Water Vapor Absorption Band Radiances From International Geostationary Satellites
Author(s) -
Li Zhenglong,
Li Jun,
Gunshor Mathew,
Moeller SzuChia,
Schmit Timothy J.,
Yu Fangfang,
McCarty Will
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl083639
Subject(s) - radiance , depth sounding , remote sensing , environmental science , geostationary orbit , troposphere , water vapor , atmospheric infrared sounder , atmosphere (unit) , infrared , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , geology , satellite , physics , astronomy , oceanography
In the past 20+ years, GEO Imagers with infrared 6.5‐μm bands have been observing the Earth's atmosphere, providing useful information of upper tropospheric moisture. Due to the instrumental differences and local viewing angles in GEO satellites, these observations are not consistent for generating climate data records (CDRs). In this study, a methodology has been developed to homogenize the 6.5‐μm radiances from the international GEO satellites, to generate a consistent CDR. Validations with Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer radiances from Metops for 2015–2017 for seven GEO Imager sensors show that the GEO radiances are homogenized well with small standard deviation and biases of the differences (smaller for newer sensors), temporally stable radiometric accuracy, and weak angle dependency (even weaker for sensors with two water vapor bands). The homogenized 20+ years of consistent 6.5‐μm radiance CDR can be used to evaluate reanalysis and climate models, especially the diurnal variation of the model simulation.