Mapping the atmospheric water vapor by integrating microwave radiometer and GPS measurements

Abstract—This paper deals with a procedure to generate maps of the integrated precipitable water vapor (IPWV) over the Mediterranean area by using estimates from a global positioning system (GPS) network over land and from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) over sea. In particular, we investigate the application of the Kriging geostatistical technique to obtain regularly spaced IPWV values. The horizontal spatial structure of water vapor retrieved by SSM/I is explored by computing variograms that provide a measure of dissimilarity between pairs of IPWV values for the region of interest. Because the water vapor density decreases with height, the GPS station elevation is accounted for in the interpolation procedure. In this respect, the potential of the Kriging with external drift relative to the ordinary Kriging is evaluated by applying a test based on the cross-validation approach. Case studies are presented and qualitatively compared to the corresponding Meteosat infrared images. A quantitative comparison with an independent source of information, such as IPWV computed from radiosonde observations and from European Centre for Medium-RangeWeather Forecasts analysis, is also performed.