Ground-Based Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Water Vapor Using High-Resolution FTIR Spectrometry

Understanding the distribution of atmospheric water vapor (H<sub>2</sub>O) is crucial for global warming studies and climate change mitigation. In this study, we retrieved the ground layer, tropospheric and total columns of H<sub>2</sub>O using ground-based high-resolution Fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Peng Wu, Changgong Shan, Chen Liu, Yu Xie, Wei Wang, Qianqian Zhu, Xiangyu Zeng, Bin Liang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/14/3484
Description
Summary:Understanding the distribution of atmospheric water vapor (H<sub>2</sub>O) is crucial for global warming studies and climate change mitigation. In this study, we retrieved the ground layer, tropospheric and total columns of H<sub>2</sub>O using ground-based high-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). The H<sub>2</sub>O total columns are obtained from near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectra, and the ground layer and tropospheric H<sub>2</sub>O columns are retrieved from the MIR spectrum. The total columns of H<sub>2</sub>O retrieved from NIR and MIR have a good consistency (R = 0.989). Additionally, the ground layer H<sub>2</sub>O columns have a similar seasonal variation to total columns and tropospheric columns but have a higher seasonal amplitude. The ground layer H<sub>2</sub>O columns are close to the total columns and tropospheric columns in winter; however, in summer, the average difference between the ground layer and total columns and the value between the ground layer and tropospheric columns are large. This is mostly due to temperature variation. The temperature has a linear response to H<sub>2</sub>O, and the relationship between surface temperature and ln(XH<sub>2</sub>O) values in the ground layer, the entire atmosphere and the troposphere show a significantly positive correlation, and the correlation coefficient R is 0.893, 0.882 and 0.683, respectively. Furthermore, we selected the HYSPLIT model to simulate the back trajectories of air parcels in the four seasons in Hefei and find that the air mass transport has a significant impact on the local H<sub>2</sub>O change. These results demonstrate that ground-based high-resolution FTIR technology has high accuracy and precision in observing the vertical distribution and seasonal changes of H<sub>2</sub>O in different atmospheres.
ISSN:2072-4292