Intercomparison of Integrated Water Vapor Measurements at High Latitudes from Co-Located and Near-Located Instruments

Abstract

Data from global positioning system (GPS) ground-based receivers, ground-based microwave radiometers (MWRs), and radiosondes (RS) at two high-latitude sites were compared. At one site, the North Slope of Alaska (NSA), Barrow, Alaska (USA), the instruments were co-located, while at the other site, the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2), Hyytiälä, Finland, the GPS receiver was located about 20 km away from the MWRs and RS. Differences between the GPS-derived integrated water vapor (IWV) and the other three instruments were analyzed in terms of mean differences and standard deviation. A comparison of co-located and near-located independently calibrated instruments allowed us to isolate issues that may be specific to a single system and, to some extent, to isolate the effects of the distance between the GPS receiver and the remaining instruments. The results showed that at these two high-latitude sites, when the IWV was less than 15 kg/m2, the GPS agreed with other instruments within 0.5–0.7 kg/m2. When the variability of water vapor was higher, mostly in the summer months, the GPS agreed with other instruments within 0.8–1 kg/m2. The total random uncertainty between the GPS and the other systems was of the order of 0.6–1 kg/m2 and was the dominant effect when the IWV was higher than 15 kg/m2.