Retrieval of total water vapor in polar regions using SSM/T2 channels

A method to retrieve the total water vapor in the cloudless atmosphere using SSM/T2 channels is proposed based on a unique property of three contiguous channels situated on the flank of the water vapor absorption line at 183.31 GHz. One of its advantages is its independence to the surface emission, which is the main disturbing factor in retrieving atmospheric parameters from passive satellite measurements. Due to the high sensitivity of the SSM/T2 channels to water vapor, this method is suitable to the total water vapor retrieval for dry polar atmospheres. An algorithm is constructed for austral winter cases through model simulation using radiosonde profiles.