Analysis of atmospheric signals in spaceborne InSAR - toward water vapor mapping based on multiple sources

The dominant error source for short wavelength spaceborne radar signals is due to water vapor present in the neutral atmosphere (neutrosphere). This distortion signal is characterized by high variations in time and space, and can be exploited as a valuable source for quantifying the water vapor content of the Earth's atmosphere. Available water vapor measurements provided by Envisat Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and simulations from numerical weather prediction models are still limited in observing rapid fluctuations of water vapor. Therefore, we are investigating Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) for water vapor mapping. In this paper, water vapor maps derived from Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSI), MERIS, and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are presented with comparative analyses.