Remote sensing of atmospheric water content from satellites using microwave radiometry

Analysis is presented which substantiates the high correlation achieved in relating integrated water vapor and liquid water to brightness temperatures at frequencies near the 22.235 GHz water vapor line. The influence of atmospheric and surface variability is shown to be minimal over low emissivity sea surfaces. Determination of atmospheric water content using regression techniques is shown to follow directly from radiation transfer theory. Satellite data from the Nimbus-E Microwave Spectrometer (NEMS) aboard Nimbus-5 are compared with radiosonde water vapor measurements and cloud images recorded by the Temperature Humidity Infrared Radiometer aboard Nimbus 5.