| |
 |
UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-22 2:29 |
 |
|
|
|
Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2012 Meeting
Section: Atmosphere and Earth Science; Environment Protection
Title:
Characteristics of precipitable water distribution over Black Sea using satellite-derived products
Authors:
Liliana VELEA and Roxana BOJARIU
Affiliation:
National Meteorological Administration, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail
liliana.velea@meteoromania.ro
Keywords:
Black Sea; remote sensing; moisture distribution
Abstract:
Vertical distribution of moisture influences surface evaporation and latent heat fluxes, with important effects on the development of severe weather events, especially in the open-sea and coastal areas. For these regions, classical observations relevant for the moisture distribution and variability at various heights in the atmosphere are limited. Therefore, satellite observations represent an optimal solution for monitoring these characteristics, especially at longer time scales.
For the open-sea area of Black Sea there are available several satellite-derived products containing information on atmospheric moisture (e.g. vertical profiles; total amount of precipitable water vapor). Although these datasets cover a relatively short and recent period, they provide new and possibly more complete information on the spatio-temporal variability of moisture in this region.
This study represents a first step in the attempt to characterize the distribution and variability of atmospheric moisture over Black Sea using satellite-derived products. We employ standard level-2 product derived from IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) observations, available from http://www.class.ncdc.noaa.gov, for the period 2008-2011. This product has a spatial resolution of 12.5 km and contains vertical profiles of temperature, water vapour and trace gases. The vertical grid used in the profiles has 100 pressure levels ranging from 1100 hPa to 0.016 hPa.
The analysis is focused on the amount of precipitable water vapor (TPW) in 3 layers defined between surface and pressure levels of 850hPa, 500hPa and 0.016 hPa. The data is analysed at monthly scales with regard to characteristics of probability distribution (mean, extremes) over the entire basin, as well as over western and eastern sub-basins. Comparisons with independent estimations of monthly means of TPW over the area of interest are also performed.
Note: This study was funded through Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG09-GA-2011-293707
|
|
|
|