Atmospheric temperature, water vapour and liquid water path from two microwave radiometers during MOSAiC

Abstract

AbstractThe microwave radiometers HATPRO (Humidity and Temperature Profiler) and MiRAC-P (Microwave Radiometer for Arctic Clouds - Passive) continuously measured radiation emitted from the atmosphere throughout the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of the Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition on board the research vessel Polarstern. From the measured brightness temperatures, we have retrieved atmospheric variables using statistical methods in a temporal resolution of 1 s covering October 2019 to October 2020. The integrated water vapour (IWV) is derived individually from both radiometers. In addition, we present the liquid water path (LWP), temperature and absolute humidity profiles from HATPRO. To prove the quality and to estimate uncertainty, the data sets are compared to radiosonde measurements from Polarstern. The comparison shows an extremely good agreement for IWV, with standard deviations of 0.08–0.19 kg m−2 (0.39–1.47 kg m−2) in dry (moist) situations. The derived profiles of temperature and humidity denote uncertainties of 0.7–1.8 K and 0.6–0.45 gm−3 in 0–2 km altitude.