Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2010
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
Volume
27
Issue
2
First Page
274
Last Page
289
DOI
10.1175/2009JTECHA1317.1
Abstract
Water vapor mixing ratios in the upper troposphere and lower stratospheremeasured by the AuraMicrowave Limb Sounder (MLS) version 2.2 instrument have been compared with Global Forecast System(GFS) analyses at five levels within the 300–100-hPa layer and North AmericanMesoscale (NAM) model analyses at six levels within the 300–50-hPa layer over the two years of 2005 and 2006 at four analysis times (e.g., 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800UTC). Probability density functions of the vapormixing ratios suggest that both analyses are oftenmoister than Aura MLS values, but NAM model analyses agree somewhat better with Aura MLS measurements than GFS model analyses over the same North American domain at the five common levels. Examining five subsets of the global GFS domain, the GFS model analysis is moister than Aura MLS estimates everywhere but at 150 and 100 hPa in all regions outside of the tropics. NAM model analysis water vapor mixing ratios exceeded the AuraMLS values at all levels from 250 to 150 hPa in all four seasons of both years and some seasons at 100 and 50 hPa. Moist biases in winter and spring of both years were similar at all levels, but these moist biases in summer and fallwere smaller in 2005 than in 2006 at all levels. These differences may be due to the change in the NAM from using the Eta Model to using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) in June 2006.
Copyright Owner
American Meteorological Society
Copyright Date
2010
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
van Thien, Le; Gallus, William A. Jr.; Olsen, Mark A.; and Livesey, Nathaniel, "Comparison of Aura MLS Water Vapor Measurements with GFS and NAM Analyses in the Upper Troposphere–Lower Stratosphere" (2010). Geological and Atmospheric Sciences Publications. 57.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ge_at_pubs/57
Comments
This article is from Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 27 (2010): 274, doi: 10.1175/2009JTECHA1317.1. Posted with permission.