Atmospheric precipitable water vapor and its correlation with clear-sky infrared temperature observations

Kelsey, Vicki; Riley, Spencer; Minschwaner, Kenneth

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1563-2022

Articles | Volume 15, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1563-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1563-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 5

Research article

|

18 Mar 2022

Research article |

| 18 Mar 2022

Atmospheric precipitable water vapor and its correlation with clear-sky infrared temperature observations

Vicki Kelsey, Spencer Riley, and Kenneth Minschwaner

Data sets

TPW and Zenith Sky Temperature Data for Socorro, NM Vicki Kelsey and Spencer Riley https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12712814

Model code and software

Precipitable-Water Model Analysis Tool Spencer Riley and Vicki Kelsey https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4587475

Short summary

In the interior western USA there are distances of hundreds of kilometers between weather balloon launch sites for weather forecasting. Satellite coverage can also be sparse or with poor resolution. Using infrared thermometers, clear-sky temperatures were collected and compared with data from weather balloons. A correlation between clear-sky temperatures and precipitable water measurements from weather balloons was found. This means that citizen scientists can collect data.