Water vapour in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UTLS): A new vertically resolved dataset from limb and nadir satellite observations

Abstract:

Water vapour in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) has a significant impact both on the radiative and chemical properties of the atmosphere. Reliable water vapour observations are essential for the evaluation of the accuracy of UTLS water vapour from model simulations, and thereafter of the contribution to the global radiative forcing and climate change. Limb-viewing and nadir satellites provide high quality water vapour observations above the lower stratosphere and below the upper troposphere, respectively, but show large uncertainties in the tropopause region. Within the ESA Water Vapour Climate Change Initiative, we have developed a new scheme to estimate water vapour profiles in the UTLS and in particular across the tropopause, by merging observations from a set of limb and nadir satellites from 2010 to 2014. The new data record of vertically resolved water vapour is validated against the aircraft in-situ water vapour observations from the JULIA database and water vapour sounding records from NOAA frost point hygrometer (FPH) and NCAR cryogenic frostpoint hygrometer (CFH). Furthermore, the new data record is used to evaluate the UTLS water vapour distribution and interannual variations from chemistry-climate model (CCM) simulations and reanalyses.