Measurements of Mesospheric Water Vapor From 1992 to 2021 at Three Stations From the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change

We present ground-based microwave measurements of mesospheric water vapor made by the Water Vapor Millimeter-wave Spectrometer (WVMS) instruments since the early 1990s from sites in California, Hawaii, and New Zealand. These measurements are compared with coincident measurements from the Halogen Occultation Experiment, the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder, and Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry; all of which combine to cover the entire time period of the ground-based measurements. Comparisons are presented both on similar to weekly timescales in order to better identify discontinuities in the relative differences and on annual timescales in order to better study geophysical variations. The WVMS retrievals shown here are available on the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change database. The range of WVMS trends and the differences from the satellite trends, with the latter varying over a range of similar to 3%/decade, provide an estimate of how accurately it would be possible to determine multidecadal trends using ground-based microwave instruments in a postsatellite era. This uncertainty is comparable to the trend in mesospheric water vapor that is expected to have occurred since the early 1990s.

Automated summary

This study presents ground-based microwave measurements of mesospheric water vapor and compares them with satellite measurements. The results show discrepancies between the ground-based and satellite measurements, indicating uncertainties in determining long-term trends of mesospheric water vapor using ground-based microwave instruments in a post-satellite era.