Abstract

Global warming is a contemporary topic of great scientific and social interest. Current models predict a temperature increase as large as 4 K when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is doubled. The coupling of the hydrological cycle with the initial forcing by carbon dioxide appears to be crucial in these calculations. At present however, it is not evident that the hydrological cycle is correctly modeled. And a comparison of the various components of this cycle with observations is needed. In this presentation observations are presented which could be used to validate the water vapor distributions computed by general circulation models. A method for retrieving precipitable water from observations by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) over the global oceans is described. Preliminary results of the retrieved precipitable water and near surface wind velocities for September 1987 are described

© 1990 Optical Society of America