Atmospheric Specific Humidity (Column/Profile) Measurement Instruments

Measurements > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Humidity Fields > Atmospheric specific humidity (column/profile)
Measurement Definition: Vertical profile of the specific humidity in the atmosphere - Requested from surface to TOA (layers: LT, HT, LS, HS&M) + Total column - Physical units: [ g/kg ] for profile, [ kg/m2 ] for total column - Accuracy unit: [ % ] for profile, [ kg/m2 ] for total column.

Thematic Links
InstrumentStatus/
Accuracy		Instrument DescriptionMeasurement TechnologyTimeline
AIRSOperationalHigh spectral resolution measurement of temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere. Long-wave Earth surface emissivity. Cloud diagnostics. Trace gas profiles. Surface temperatures.n/a
AltiKaOperationalSea surface height.n/a
AMIOperationalContinuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of land/sea surface temperature and cloud coverage.n/a
AMROperationalAltimeter data to correct for errors caused by water vapour and cloud-cover. Also measures total water vapour and brightness temperature.n/a
AMR-COperationalCapabilities of the AMR with the addition of an on-board calibrator for high stability wet-tropospheric path delay correction.n/a
AMR-SOperationalCapabilities of the AMR with the addition of a 2nd beam to provide wet-tropospheric path delay correction within both swaths of the primary radar instrument (KaRIn)n/a
AMSR2Operational
+/-1.5 kg/m2
Measurements of water vapour, cloud liquid water, precipitation, winds, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover, soil moisture.n/a
AMSU-AOperationalAll-weather night-day temperature sounding to an altitude of 45 km.n/a
AMSU-AOperationalAll-weather night-day temperature sounding to an altitude of 45 km. AMSU-A on Aqua is still partially operational, with 9 of the 15 channels working and collecting data.n/a
ASIOperationalAtmospheric sounding for weather forecasting.n/a
ATMSOperationalCollects microwave radiance data that when combined with the CrIS data will permit calculation of atmospheric temperature and water vapour profiles.n/a
CrISOperationalDaily measurements of vertical atmospheric distribution of temperature, moisture, and pressure. MWIR non-operational on Suomi NPP effective 12 July 2021.n/a
FCIOperationalMeasurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, vegetation, radiation fluxes, convection, air mass analysis, cirrus cloud discrimination, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and sea surface temperature.n/a
GIIRSOperationalMeasurements of three dimensional atmospheric structure. Large-area, continuous, fast, and accurate vertical air soundings of temperature and humidity. Subsequent units have slightly different specifications.n/a
GMIOperationalMeasures rainfall rates over oceans and land, combined rainfall structure and surface rainfall rates with associated latent heating. Used to produce three hour, daily, and monthly total rainfall maps over oceans and land.n/a
GNOSOperationalAtmospheric sounding for weather forecasting.n/a
GNSS-RO ReceiverOperationalMeasurement of bending angles of GNSS satellite signals occulted by Earth's atmosphere for retrieval of temperature and humidity profiles.n/a
GOME-2OperationalMeasurement of total column amounts and stratospheric and tropospheric profiles of ozone. Also amounts of H20, NO2, OClO, BrO, SO2 and HCHO.n/a
GPSRO (Terra-SAR)OperationalMeasurements of atmospheric temperature, pressure and water vapour content.n/a
GRASOperationalGNSS receiver for atmospheric temperature and humidity profile sounding.n/a
HIRASOperational n/a
HIRS/4OperationalAtmospheric temperature profiles and data on cloud parameters, humidity soundings, water vapour, total ozone content, and surface temperatures. Same as HIRS/3, with 10 km IFOV.n/a
IASIOperational
+/-10 %
Measures tropospheric moisture and temperature, column integrated contents of ozone, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other minor gases which affect tropospheric chemistry. Also measures sea surface and land temperature.n/a
IKFS-2OperationalAtmospheric temperature/humidity profiles, data on cloud parameters, water vapour & ozone column amounts, surface temperature.n/a
IRASOperationalAtmospheric sounding for weather forecasting.n/a
MAESTROOperationalChemical processes involved in the depletion of the ozone layer, and now including a high quality water vapour data product.n/a
MHSOperationalAtmospheric humidity profiles, cloud cover, cloud liquid, water content, ice boundaries and precipitation data. MHS on NOAA-18 is considered failed following an anomaly on 21 October 2018.n/a
MLS (EOS-Aura)OperationalMeasures lower stratospheric temperature and concentration of H2O, O3, ClO, HCl, OH, HNO3, N2O and SO2.n/a
MODISOperationalData on biological and physical processes on the surface of the Earth and in the lower atmosphere, and on global dynamics. Surface temperatures of land and ocean, chlorophyll fluorescence, land cover measurements, cloud cover (day and night).n/a
MSU-GSOperationalMeasurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, albedo, vegetation, convection, air mass analysis, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and surface temperature, fire detection.n/a
MSU-GS/VEOperationalOperational metrology, hydrology, climate monitoring and environmental monitoringn/a
MTVZA-GYOperationalAtmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, precipitation, sea-level wind speed, snow/ice coverage.n/a
MVIRSOperationalMeasures surface temperature and cloud and ice cover. Used for snow and flood monitoring and surface temperature.n/a
MWHS-2OperationalMeteorological applications.n/a
MWRIOperationalAll weather observations of precipitation, cloud features, vegetation, soil moisture sea ice, etc.n/a
MWRIOperationalOcean wind and temperature measurements.n/a
MWTS-2OperationalAtmospheric sounding measurements.n/a
SAGE-IIIOperationalLimb-viewing measurements of aerosol, O3, H20, NO2, OClO, NO3, temperature and pressure in the stratosphere, upper troposphere, and mesosphere using solar occultation, lunar occultation and limb scatter measurement techniques.n/a
SEVIRIOperationalMeasurements of cloud cover, cloud top height, precipitation, cloud motion, vegetation, radiation fluxes, convection, air mass analysis, cirrus cloud discrimination, tropopause monitoring, stability monitoring, total ozone and sea surface temperature.n/a
SMROperationalMeasures global distributions of ozone and species of importance for ozone chemistry ClO, HNO3, H2O, N2O, (HO2, H2O2). Measures temperature in the height range 15 - 100 km.n/a
SounderOperationalAtmospheric soundings and data on atmospheric stability and thermal gradient winds.n/a
Sounder (INSAT)OperationalAtmospheric soundings, atmospheric stability, thermal gradient winds.n/a
SRALOperationalMarine and land services.n/a
SSM/ISOperationalMeasures thermal microwave radiation. Global measurements of air temp profile, humidity profile, ocean surface winds, rain overland/ocean, ice concentration/age, ice/snow edge, water vapour/clouds over ocean, snow water content, land surface temperature.n/a
TEMPESTOperationalHosted on the ISS, TEMPEST measures atmospheric humidityn/a
TGRSOperationalTGRS is the radio occultation receiver, which will receive signals from GPS, Galileo, and Glonass.n/a
TOROperationalConsists of the dual-frequency GPS receiver IGOR (Integrated GPS Occultation Receiver) for evaluation of GPS-based orbit data as an independent tracking techniquen/a
TROPICSOperational
+/-0.25
Constellation to provide temperature/moisture sounding and cloud/precipitation imaging with rapid update.n/a
TROPOMIOperationalSupporting atmospheric composition and air quality monitoring services.n/a
AMSR3Being developedMeasurements of water vapour, cloud liquid water, precipitation including snowfall, winds, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover, soil moisture.n/a
AWS InstrumentBeing developedCross-track scanning microwave radiometer. Provides measurements of atmospheric humidity and temperature.n/a
GXSBeing developed n/a
HyperCube InstrumentBeing developedDesigned to measure the speed, direction, and elevation of wind in Earth's atmosphere. Contains more vertical layers of wind vector data at fine spatial resolution, resulting in more accurate data than other available solutions.n/a
IASI-NGBeing developed
+/-5 %
Measures profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity, ozone, carbon monoxide, columns of methane, nitrous oxide, and other minor gases, and sea, ice, and land surface temperature and emissivity. Provides information on aeorols and cloud: fractional coverage, phase, cloud top height (input to Polar AMVs) and particle size. Prime applications: NWP, AC/AQ, climate. Secondary applications: NWC, land/ocean surface monitoring. IASI-NG will resume IASI role as internationl standard for satellite inter-calibration (GSICS).n/a
IRISBeing developedKu-band Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (with added Ka-band channel for snow depth retrieval and in combination with AMR-CR MW Radiometer for ice&snow classification and wet troposphere correction) to cover the needs for continuous monitoring of sea ice thickness and land ice elevation measurement after Cryosat-2, with enhanced performance.n/a
IRSBeing developedMeasurements of vertically resolved clear sky atmospheric motion vectors, temperature and water vapour profiles.n/a
MWSBeing developedAll-weather night-day temperature soundingn/a
ROBeing developedGNSS receiver for atmospheric temperature and humidity profile sounding.n/a
AMR-CRApprovedCapabilities of the AMR with the addition of an on-board calibrator for high stability wet-tropospheric path delay correction and a redesign with respect to AMR-C (i.e. the 3 high res MW radiometer channels at 90, 130 and 166 GHz are an integral subsystem of the instrument and not experimental as in AMR-C)n/a
Advanced RadiometProposedAtmospheric temperature and humidity profiles with high vertical resolution.n/a
IKFS-3ProposedAtmospheric temperature/humidity profiles, data on cloud parameters, water vapour & ozone column amounts, surface temperature.n/a
MTVZA-GY-MPProposedAtmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, precipitation, sea-level wind speed, snow/ice coverage.n/a
AMSR-ENo longer operational
+/-3.5 kg/m2
Measurements of water vapour, cloud liquid water, precipitation, winds, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover and soil moisture. Instrument stopped functioning 4th October 2011.n/a
AOPODNo longer operationalA spaceborne dual-frequency GPS receiver for Precision Orbit Determination (POD) and GPS radio occultation (RO) measurementsn/a
HiRDLSNo longer operationalMeasures atmospheric temperature, concentrations of ozone, water vapour, methane, NOx, N2O, CFCs and other minor species, aerosol concentration, location of polar stratospheric clouds and cloud tops. Currently not collecting data on Aqua.n/a
HSBNo longer operationalHumidity soundings for climatological and atmospheric dynamics applications. The scan mirror motor failed on the 5th of February 2003.n/a
TESNo longer operational3D profiles on a global scale of all infra-red active species from surface to lower stratosphere. Measures greenhouse gas concentrations, tropospheric ozone, acid rain precursors, gas exchange leading to stratospheric ozone depletion.n/a
Copyright © CEOS 2024