Improvement of the Satellite-Based Microwave Physical Retrieval of Temperature and Water Vapor in NUCAPS

This work presents the performance evaluation and initial improvements of the microwave-only physical retrieval algorithm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Unique CrIS/ATMS Processing System (NUCAPS). In order to evaluate the performance of the NUCAPS microwave-only retrieval algorithm, comparisons over different regions and seasons against dedicated and reference radiosonde (RAOB) observations, typically not assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, will be presented. Those results are expected to provide a detailed characterization of the capabilities of the NUCAPS microwave-only retrieval system to produce atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles. This work supports the development of the NUCAPS algorithm which is designed to provide microwave-only retrieval in cases (cloudy) when the infrared cannot be used. It is expected to operate over nearly all surfaces and weather conditions (except precipitating). The microwave-only retrieval algorithm also provides initial inputs for IR cloud clearing and retrieval of cloud properties and could potentially serve as the first guess for the NUCAPS infrared physical retrieval. The NUCAPS algorithm is the current NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) operational EDR algorithm for atmospheric vertical temperature (AVTP) and moisture profiles (AVMP) and trace-gas profile retrievals. NOAA-Unique algorithms are currently under development at NOAA for the operational processing across current and future NOAA/JPSS, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) MetOp-IASI/ATMS and NASA EOS (Aqua-AIRS/AMSU) satellite missions.