Wet troposphere correction from water vapour climate data records

The long term stability of the global mean sea level (GMSL) is affected by the low stability of the wet troposphere correction (WTC) based on the microwave radiometers (MWR) on board the altimetry missions.

In order to reduce the long term stability uncertainty of the GMSL, we propose an alternative WTC derived from highly stable water vapour climate data records (CDRs) from independent measurements on board meteorological satellites. The atmosphere water vapour content is converted into wet troposphere correction using a polynomial model.

The CDR-derived WTC product provides the CDR-derived global mean WTC (GMWTC) computed using two water vapour CDRs, namely REMSS and HOAPS (see figure below).

The CDR-derived GMWTC trend uncertainty is estimated at 0.05 mm/yr (Barnoud et al., 2023).

The CDR-derived WTC product

DOI and metadata

This product is referenced with a DOI: 10.24400/527896/a01-2022.018
More metadata: https://commons.datacite.org/doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2022.018

Product access

The product (NetCDF file) can be downloaded in open access on the HTTPS server or via the non authenticated FTP download (if the FTP protocol is not supported by your browsers, see this note).

Input data

Altimetry L2P vDT2021 data are distributed by AVISO+: https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr.

Water vapor input data:

Citation and reference

If you use the data, please refer to Barnoud et al. (2023) and acknowledge: “The CDR-derived WTC product was produced by Magellium, Fluctus and LEGOS and distributed on the AVISO+ ODATIS portal (https://aviso.altimetry.fr) with support from CNES (https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2022.018 version XX).”.

Contact

For any technical issues or additional information related to the CDR-derived WTC product, users are advised to contact Anne Barnoud: anne.barnoud(at)magellium.fr

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by CNES in the framework of the SALP contract.

CDR-derived WTC product versions, documentation and access

Product Version Publication date Data used Temporal coverage Documentation Product access
Product user manual Associated publication HTTPS FTP
Time series of global means 1.1 Aug 2023 -Altimetry L2P 2021
-Water vapour climate data records REMSS V7R2 and precursor  or HOAPS V5.0 (interim version)
From 08/10/1992 to 12/11/2020 (HOAPS) and to 16/11/2022 (REMSS) PUM v1.1   open access non authenticated FTP
1.0 Nov 2022 -Altimetry L2P 2021
-Water vapour climate data records REMSS V7.0 and HOAPS V4.0
From 29/09/1992 to 07/11/2014 (HOAPS) and to 28/06/2021 (REMSS) Barnoud et al. 2023

References

Barnoud A., Picard B., Meyssignac B., Marti F., Ablain M. and Roca R., Reducing the uncertainty in the satellite altimetry estimates of global mean sea level trends using highly stable water vapour climate data records. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 128, e2022JC019378, doi.org/10.1029/2022JC019378, 2023.