Paper
16 February 2004 Potential use of a 19-GHz CW radar system for estimating water vapor
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Abstract
Based on the evidence of the correlation between certain differential spectral parameters that can be estimated through attenuation measurements in the 18-22 GHz spectral range and the columnar content of atmospheric water vapor (IWV: Integrated Water Vapor), recently we pointed out that such correlation can be profitably exploited to provide direct estimates of the IWV along vertical Earth-satellite links, showing in particular that at 19 GHz a practically deterministic relationships holds between the IWV and such differential spectral parameters. In this paper we present some new simulation results to show that the parameters can be estimated by means of a 19 GHz CW-FM nadir pointing radar, providing in this way a continuous monitoring of the IWV along vertical atmospheric sections. Differential attenuation measurements are made by exploiting the backscatter from the Earth surface. Simulations, that are based on real vertical profiles of temperature, pressure and water vapor concentration as provided by a large radiosonde dataset, refer to a LEO satellite and to an airborne configuration, indicate the possibility to retrieve the IWV in both cases.
© (2004) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Fabrizio Cuccoli, Luca Facheris, Marco Pellegrini, and Simone Tanelli "Potential use of a 19-GHz CW radar system for estimating water vapor", Proc. SPIE 5235, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere VIII, (16 February 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.510699
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KEYWORDS
Radar

Earth's atmosphere

Signal attenuation

Atmospheric monitoring

Atmospheric sensing

Backscatter

Clouds

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