A Study of Variability in Tropical Tropospheric Water Vapor

1
A Study of Variability in Tropical Tropospheric
Water Vapor
A51A-0054
VALIDATION Is the level of agreement between TES
and in-situ H2O limited by spatial variability of
H2O?
Fig. 1. 22 Jan 2006 comparison between TES and
WB-57F in-situ water from take-off, 10ºN, 84ºW
(60-km, 1-hour proximity) shows large differences
at 500-700 hPa.
Fig. 2. 25 Jan 2006 comparison between TES and
CFH in-situ water near San Cristobal, Galapagos
Is., 0.9ºS, 89.6ºW (59-km, 1-hour proximity),
shows better agreement at most pressure levels.
Aqua MODIS Vis. Image courtesy of David Tobin.
TROPICAL VARIABILITY
Fig. 3. Left TES transect on 25 Jan 2006 shows
relatively little H2O variability. Center
differences between CFH and TES are within TES
error and within 1 st. dev. of TES retrieval
variability except at 500-750 hPa. Right
fractional difference for 17 TES retrievals
within 200 km of CFH. Differences up to 30 are
seen between two TES retrievals 12 km apart and
closest to CFH (red and green lines).
Fig. 4. H2O curtain plots from two TES transects
(22 Jan and 1 Feb 2006) show more spatial
variability than 25 Jan 2006, particularly in the
middle troposphere.
http//tes.jpl.nasa.gov