AMTD Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions AMTD Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss. 1867-8610 Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/amt-2016-58 Observations of water vapor within a mid-tropospheric smoke plume using ground-based microwave radiometry Clabo Darren R. 1 Program in Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, 57701, USA 12 04 2016 2016 1 27 Copyright: © 2016 Darren R. Clabo 2016 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2016-58/ The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2016-58/amt-2016-58.pdf

This study presents an analysis of the water vapor mixing ratio contained within multiple mid-tropospheric smoke plumes as diagnosed by a ground-based passive microwave radiometer. Measurements from the radiometer were compared to smoke opacity as diagnosed from visible satellite imagery on three different days: 12, 16, and 20 August 2013. It was found that the water vapor mixing ratio within the smoke plume could be as much as 20–250 % higher than the mixing ratio within the ambient, non-smoke environmental air. Significant intra-smoke plume variability also existed and the mixing ratio was found to be higher (lower) in more optically thick (thin) areas of the plume. This study demonstrates that a radiometer is valuable tool that can be used to remotely measure the water vapor content within smoke plumes.