Liquid water path and integrated water vapor over the tropical Atlantic during NARVAL-South

• Main Authors: Jacob, Marek, Ament, Felix, Gutleben, Manuel, Konow, Heike, Mech, Mario, Wirth, Martin, Crewell, Susanne
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) at DKRZ 2019
• Subjects: Climate; HAMP; airborne; remote sensing; narval
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26050/wdcc/halo_measurements_5; http://cera-www.dkrz.de/WDCC/ui/Compact.jsp?acronym=HALO_measurements_5

Project: HAlo Microwave Package - The Halo Microwave Package (HAMP) comprises microwave radiometers with 26 channels in the frequency range between 20 and 183 GHz and a 35 GHz cloud radar. This instrument suite was designed to be deployed on the German research aircraft HALO (High Altitude LOng range research aircraft). Synergistic analysis of measurements from these instruments allow for improved detection of hydrometeors both via the emission and scattering of radiation. HAMP measurements are and can be used for satellite validation and model evaluation studies. HAMP’s main advantages are a high vertical and temporal resolution. Vertical resolution of radar data is approximately 30 m and temporal resolution of both instruments is approximately 1 s. Research for the HAMP project was funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG), within the the priority program “High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO)” SPP 1294, the Max-Planck-Society, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Summary: Products of liquid water path (LWP), rain water path (RWP) and integrated water vapor (IWV, also called precipitable water vapor (PWV)) are retrieved from microwave radiometer observations with auxiliary measurements from backscatter lidar and cloud radar. The nadir measurements were taken by the German High Altitude and Long range research aircraft (HALO) during the Next generation Advanced Remote sensing for VALidation campaign South (NARVAL-South) in December 2013. Products are provided over tropical Atlantic east of Barbados. This experiment provides column integrated quantities as seen from satellite perspective but with higher spatially resolution (about 1 km footprint) than available from microwave satellites.