Philippe Ricaud

A 22 GHz mobile microwave radiometer for the study of stratospheric water vapor

We present a new compact ground-based microwave radiometer dedicated to the study of middle atmospheric water vapor. The instrument detects the 616- 523 H2O transition line at 22.235 GHz. This radiometer has been designed to be easily transported and operated during measurement campaigns in remote places. The first retrievals, performed with the MOLIERE inversion and radiative transfer software, show good agreement with MIAWARA, the 22 GHz Radiometer developed at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument onboard the Aura satellite.

Review of tropospheric temperature, absolute humidity and integrated water vapour from the HAMSTRAD radiometer installed at Dome C, Antarctica, 2009-14

Abstract The HAMSTRAD (H2O Antarctica Microwave Stratospheric and Tropospheric Radiometers) instrument is a microwave radiometer installed at Dome C (Antarctica, 75°06S, 123°21E, 3233 m a.m.s.l.) dedicated to the tropospheric measurements of temperature, absolute humidity and integrated water vapour (IWV). The aim of the present paper is to review the entire HAMSTRAD dataset from 2009 to 2014 with a 7-minute integration time from 0 to 10 km by comparison with coincident radiosondes launched at 12h00 UTC at Dome C. Based upon an extensive evaluation of biases and time correlation coefficients (r), we can state: i) IWV is of excellent quality (r>0.98) and can be used without retrieving significant bias, ii) temperature is suitable for scientific analyses over 0–10 km with a high time correlation with radiosondes (r>0.80) and iii) absolute humidity is suitable for scientific analyses over 0–4 km with a moderate time correlation against radiosondes (r>0.70). The vertical distribution of temperature (0–10 km) and absolute humidity (0–4 km) is subject to biases that need to be removed if the analyses require the use of vertical profiling. The HAMSTRAD dataset is provided in open access to the scientific community.

Statistical analyses and correlation between tropospheric temperature and humidity at Dome C, Antarctica

Abstract The Dome C (Concordia) station in Antarctica (75°06′S, 123°21′E, 3233 m above mean sea level) has a unique opportunity to test the quality of remote-sensing measurements and meteorological analyses because it is situated well inside the Eastern Antarctic Plateau and is less affected by local phenomena. Measurements of tropospheric temperature and water vapour (H2O) together with the integrated water vapour (IWV) performed in 2010 are statistically analysed to assess their quality and to study the yearly correlation between temperature and H2O over the entire troposphere. The statistical tools include yearly evolution, seasonally-averaged mean and bias, standard deviation and linear Pearson correlation. The datasets are made of measurements from the ground-based microwave radiometer H2O Antarctica Microwave Stratospheric and Tropospheric Radiometer (HAMSTRAD), radiosonde, in situ sensors, the space-borne infrared sensors Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the MetOp-A platform and the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) on the Aqua platform, and the analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). Despite some obvious biases within all these datasets, our study shows that temperature and IWV are generally measured with high quality whilst H2O measurement quality is slightly worse. The AIRS and IASI measurements do not have the vertical resolution to correctly probe the lowermost troposphere, whilst HAMSTRAD loses sensitivity in the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere. Within the entire troposphere over the whole year, it is found that the time evolution of temperature and H2O is highly correlated (> 0.8). This suggests that, in addition to the variability of solar radiation producing an obvious diurnal cycle in the planetary boundary layer in summer and an obvious seasonal cycle over the year, the H2O and temperature intra-seasonal variabilities are affected by the same processes, e.g. related to the long-range transport of air masses.

Apport de l'observation satellitaire à l'analyse et à la prévision de la qualité de l'air

This paper presents what can be achieved with the use of satellite observations in the framework of atmospheric composition studies, including for air quality analysis and forecast. The different measurements currently available are presented with their main strengths and limitations. On the basis of examples from recent studies, the use and the gain obtained by these observations are discussed.This includes analysis of pollutant transport events, refinement of the databases used in the models, modeling of satellite observations and data assimilation. The recent Copernicus service is detailed in this context and the prospects for using these observations are finally explained.