Abstract

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) launched on the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) in October 1984 has retrieved vertical profiles of water vapor from limb absorption solar occultation measurements at 0.94 microns. The experiment has produced a new multi-year global water vapor data set that is being archived at NSSDC. The importance of SAGE II water vapor measurements has been discussed by several investigators (McCormick, 1991; Larsen et al., 1991; Chiou et al., 1990; Chiou et al., 1991; Oltmans et al., 1991; Rind et al., 1990). It has been demonstrated by Rind et al (1991) that the study of SAGE II data has led to the confirmation of positive water vapor feedback in climate models.

© 1991 Optical Society of America