Continuing the MLS water vapor record with OMPS LP using neural networks

Himes, Michael D.; Kramarova, Natalya A.; Wargan, Krzysztof; Davis, Sean M.; Jaross, Glen

doi:10.5194/amt-19-3601-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3601-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3601-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

Research article

|

03 Jun 2026

Research article |

| 03 Jun 2026

Continuing the MLS water vapor record with OMPS LP using neural networks

Michael D. Himes, Natalya A. Kramarova, Krzysztof Wargan, Sean M. Davis, and Glen Jaross

Data sets

OMPS-NPP LP L2 Water Vapor (H2O) Vertical Profile swath orbital 3slit V1.0 Michael D. Himes https://doi.org/10.5067/C1BD8BLEBH04

OMPS-N21 LP L2 Water Vapor (H2O) Vertical Profile swath orbital 3slit V1.0 Michael D. Himes https://doi.org/10.5067/XNK38X2VQGZ0

Model code and software

Research Compendium for Himes et al. (2026): "Continuing the MLS water vapor record with OMPS LP using neural networks" Michael D. Himes, Natalya A. Kramarova, Krzysztof Wargan, Sean M. Davis, and Glen Jaross https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17237404

Short summary

Stratospheric water vapor (SWV) influences various atmospheric processes. While the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS LP) was not designed to measure SWV, we utilized near-coincident measurements by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and OMPS LP to develop a machine learning method to measure SWV between 11.5–40.5 km. The LP-derived SWV closely agrees with MLS. Our results suggest OMPS LP can continue the global water vapor record following the MLS mission.