SATELLITE-DERIVED WATER-VAPOR CORRECTIONS FOR GEOSAT ALTIMETRY

The absence of a radiometer on Geosat to provide simultaneous measurements of tropospheric water vapor makes it necessary to have the best possible estimates of coincident water vapor correction from other satellite-borne sensor systems. In this study, tropospheric water vapor contents are computed from two different satellite sensor systems. These water vapor estimates are intercompared and are compared with other coincident estimates of tropospheric water vapor from radiosondes and from the standard weather analyses of the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center (FNOC). Statistical comparisons are also made with a climatological water vapor data base computed from the scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR). -from Authors