An evaluation of atmospheric absorption models at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths using airborne observations

Fox, Stuart; Mattioli, Vinia; Turner, Emma; Vance, Alan; Cimini, Domenico; Gallucci, Donatello

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4957-2024

Articles | Volume 17, issue 16

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4957-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4957-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 16

Research article

|

29 Aug 2024

Research article |

| 29 Aug 2024

An evaluation of atmospheric absorption models at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths using airborne observations

Stuart Fox, Vinia Mattioli, Emma Turner, Alan Vance, Domenico Cimini, and Donatello Gallucci

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4957-2024-supplement

Data sets

Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) flights Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements et al. http://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/affe775e8d8890a4556aec5bc4e0b45c

Model code and software

PyRTlib: a python package for non-scattering line-by-line microwave Radiative Transfer simulations (v1.0.5) Salvatore Larosa et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10729195

The Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator Arts, Version 2.6 - Deep Python Integration (https://www.radiativetransfer.org/getarts/) Stefan Alexander Buehler et al. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4815661

Short summary

Airborne observations are used to evaluate two models for absorption and emission by atmospheric gases, including water vapour and oxygen, at microwave and sub-millimetre wavelengths. These models are needed for the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) on the next generation of European polar-orbiting weather satellites, which measures at frequencies up to 664 GHz. Both models can provide a good match to measurements from airborne radiometers and are sufficiently accurate for use with ICI.