Climatology of Tropospheric Relative Humidity over the Korean Peninsula from Radiosonde and ECMWF Reanalysis

Abstract

Conventional radiosondes can be used to measure the relative humidity over liquid (RHL) by assuming a saturated vapor pressure over the liquid. However, this assumption results in significant errors with respect to measurements in the upper troposphere, where the effect of ice is dominant. Therefore, this study presents a novel method that considers the effects of ice to determine the relative humidity from radiosonde RHL data for the last 40 years (1979–2018) over the upper layers of the Korean peninsula. Even though the relative humidity obtained from the reanalysis data was significantly different from the radiosonde-based RHL, the difference was much reduced when relative humidity was calculated using the novel method proposed in this study. Such improvements in the estimated relative humidity could be attributed to the consideration of the ice effect at temperatures above freezing level. Additionally, the validity of the relative humidity estimated in this study was established based on a two-week case analysis of data from Boseong station. Furthermore, two peak relative humidity modes for the lower and upper layers were clearly identified in the mean climatology profiles, which indirectly suggested the absence of mid-level clouds around the 700-hPa level and 500-hPa level in winter and summer, respectively. This study is meaningful as it is the first study to determine the relative humidity distribution over the Korean peninsula using radiosonde observations. The scientific value obtained can potentially be expanded by applying the proposed method to other radiosonde observation networks, which are widely distributed worldwide.