The International TOVS (Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder) Processing Package: An Evaluation

Satellite soundings of temperature, pressure and moisture are important sources of data over remote ocean areas where data voids exist and Navy vessels frequently are deployed. This study evaluates the International TOVS Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder Processing Package ITPP -retrieved temperature and moisture profiles over the eastern United States and Canada during winter 1986, by comparing them with collocated satellite profiles retrieved by a statistical method Smith and Woolf, 1976. Biases and root mean standard deviations RMSD between satellite profiles and collocated radiosonde profiles are determined for both the ITPP and Smith and Woolf methods. Layer mean temperature biases for ITPP data are within 1 K of radiosonde data. Layer mean temperature RMSDs for ITPP profiles are between 1 K and 5 K with a minimum at the 500400 mb layer of 1.37 K. ITPP layer mean temperatures better approximate radiosonde profiles in the layers between 500 mb and 200 mb than those of the Smith and Woolf scheme. ITPP precipitable water profiles exhibit a moist bias when compared with radiosonde moisture profiles. RMSDs for ITPP precipitable water are between 3 mm and 5 mm. ITPP-retrieved profiles have increased vertical and horizontal moisture resolution when compared with statistically-retrieved profiles. Keywords Meteorological data processing Marine meteorology Atmospheric temperature Meteorological satellites Atmospheric sounding Water vapor GALEGenesis of Atlantic Lows Experiments GALE-86.