A two-channel, tunable diode laser-based hygrometer for measurement of water vapor and cirrus cloud ice water content in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

Thornberry, T. D.; Rollins, A. W.; Gao, R. S.; Watts, L. A.; Ciciora, S. J.; McLaughlin, R. J.; Fahey, D. W.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-211-2015

Articles | Volume 8, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-211-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-211-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 8, issue 1

Research article

|

12 Jan 2015

Research article |

| 12 Jan 2015

A two-channel, tunable diode laser-based hygrometer for measurement of water vapor and cirrus cloud ice water content in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

T. D. Thornberry, A. W. Rollins, R. S. Gao, L. A. Watts, S. J. Ciciora, R. J. McLaughlin, and D. W. Fahey

Download

Final revised paper (published on 12 Jan 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 11 Aug 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

SC C2253: 'Choice of assumed ice crystal density', Philip Brown, 18 Aug 2014
- AC C3683: 'Response to Short Comment by Phil Brown', Troy Thornberry, 11 Nov 2014
RC C3024: 'Congratulations !!!', Anonymous Referee #1, 06 Oct 2014
- AC C3685: 'Response to Referee #1', Troy Thornberry, 11 Nov 2014
RC C3138: 'Comments on amt-2014-229', Anonymous Referee #2, 10 Oct 2014
- AC C3688: 'Response to Referee #2', Troy Thornberry, 11 Nov 2014

Short summary

The two-channel NOAA Water instrument was developed for in situ measurement of water vapor and cirrus cloud ice water content (IWC) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Tunable diode laser absorption is used to achieve accurate measurements at part per million H2O and low µg/m3 IWC. This paper reports the instrument’s design and performance achieved during its first aircraft deployment on the NASA Global Hawk during the 2013 ATTREX mission in the tropical tropopause layer.