Retrieval of atmospheric water vapor and temperature profiles over Antarctica from satellite microwave observations using an iterative approach

Zhang, Zhimeng; Brown, Shannon; Colliander, Andreas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4011-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4011-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4011-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 9

Research article

|

24 Sep 2025

Research article |

| 24 Sep 2025

Retrieval of atmospheric water vapor and temperature profiles over Antarctica from satellite microwave observations using an iterative approach

Zhimeng Zhang, Shannon Brown, and Andreas Colliander

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4011-2025-supplement

Data sets

NOAA JPSS Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) Sensor Data Record (SDR) from IDPS Weng et al. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5BR8Q7N

MERRA-2 tavg3_3d_asm_Nv: 3d,3-Hourly,Time-Averaged, Model-Level, Assimilation, Assimilated Meteorological Fields 15 V5.12.4 GMAO (2015a) https://doi.org/10.5067/SUOQESM06LPK

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_slv_Nx: 2d, 1-Hourly, Time-Averaged, Single-20 Level, Assimilation, Single-Level Diagnostics V5.12.4 GMAO (2015b) https://doi.org/10.5067/VJAFPLI1CSIV

ARM West Antarctic Radiation Experiment 50 (AWARE) Field Campaign Report (No. DOE/SC-ARM-17-028) Lubin et al. https://doi.org/10.5439/1350631

Model code and software

zz246/AtmoIterativeSolver: Retrieval of Atmospheric Water Vapor and Temperature Profiles from Satellite Microwave Observations Using an Iterative Approach (v1.0.0) zz246 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17114447

Short summary

Retrieving accurate water vapor and temperature profiles over land is challenging due to uncertainties in estimating surface emissions. To address this, we have developed an iterative method that combines atmospheric retrieval with surface emissions estimation. Using Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) data across various microwave frequencies, we successfully tracked atmospheric temperature and humidity changes. Testing against Radiosonde data showed our method is efficient and accurate, especially in detecting melting events.