Retrieval of Upper Tropospheric Relative Humidity by the GMS-5 Water Vapor Channel: A Study of the Technique

This paper presents an analysis of a technique for retrieving upper tropospheric relative humidity through the GMS-5 satellite's 6.7-micron water vapor channel brightness temperature.NCEP analysis shows that a critical assumption of the retrieval theory,namely the constant temperature lapse rate,matches only in the tropical atmosphere.By statistical analyses of brightness temperature simulated by a radiative transfer model and of relative humidity,we examine the effect of lapse rate on this retrieval method and obtain retrieval parameters and error estimates applicable to the GMS-5 satellite over East Asia.If the retrieval parameters are properly chosen,the relative error of retrieving the upper tropospheric relative humidity in this region is less than 10%,and if applied to the low-latitude summer atmosphere,it is less than 5%.