Leveraging the Strengths of Dedicated, Gruan and Conventional Radiosondes for Satellite Hyperspectral Geophysical Sounding Assessment

The atmospheric temperature and water vapour profile products, derived from the hyperspectral cross-track infrared sounder/advanced technology microwave sounder (CrIS/ATMS) on board the Suomi national polar orbiting partnership (S-NPP) satellite and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on board MetOP-B satellite, were assessed using radiosonde data as the target. This is achieved by leveraging the strengths of satellite synchronized dedicated, Global Reference Upper Air Network (GRUAN), and conventional radiosonde observations (RAOBs) in the analysis of satellite-radiosonde collocation data, compiled through the NOAA sounding Products Validation System (NPROVS). One of the results found in the study is water vapour profiles of both the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) and EUMETSAT IASI L2 products are comparable to or even better than numerical model prediction (NWP) outputs, when dedicated ship RAOBs were used as the benchmark.