Coherence between multi-instrument and multi-model atmospheric moisture retrievals in the framework of the HyMeX-SOP1
Abstract
An observational effort has been established on Menorca Island to characterize the upwind
marine low-level flow during HyMeX SOP1. The ground-based Water vapour Raman Lidar
(WALI), the airborne water vapour lidar LEANDRE-2 and boundary layer pressurized
balloons were implemented during the first Special Observing Period and contributed to
characterize water vapour variability in the vicinity of the Balearic Islands, together with the
existing network of Global Positioning System receivers. Such an experimental data set is a
powerful tool for checking the reliability of numerical forecast and research models. Hence an
exercise of inter-comparison was carried out using the AROME-WMED and ECMWF/IFS
NWP systems, and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. We assessed the
consistency of water vapour mixing ratio (WVMR) profiles and integrated water vapour
contents (IWVC) derived from the different data sets. We use consistency indicators such as
root mean square errors, biases and correlations. Comparison between WVMR profiles from
ground-based and airborne lidars (ground-based lidar and boundary layer pressurized
balloons) leads to a root mean square error lower than 1.6 g kg-1 (1.3 g kg-1) when the same
air masses are sampled. We observed a good agreement between the vertical WVMR profiles
derived from WALI and the numerical models with correlations higher than 0.7 and root
mean square errors lower than 2 g kg-1. Regarding IWVCs, the models exhibit biases less
than 2 kg m-2, root mean square errors lower than 2.3 g kg-1 and correlations higher than
0.86 when compared to WALI.
Origin : Files produced by the author(s)