NOAA Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS) Cloud Liquid Water Retrieval and Assessment

Abstract

The NOAA Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS) has been implemented operationally at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since 2007 and has been generating environmental data records (i.e. satellite products) for many satellites that contain microwave sensors. This paper focuses on cloud liquid water path (CLWP) retrieved from Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) onboard Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. The CLWP product is assessed by both ground based observations and a satellite based reference dataset. The ground in-situ observations are from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) at Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) site at Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal. Satellite reference data are from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF) corresponding CLWP product. Results showed that MiRS retrieved CLWP is in good agreement with the reference data sets. There is some indication of seasonal and latitudinal dependence in performance, some of which may be related to uncertainties in the reference data themselves.