Determination of precipitable water by using water-vapor image taken from MOS-1

An attempt is presented for determining the total precipitable water on the basis of digital water-vapor image. The study is performed over territory of Central Europe, in an anticyclonic weather situation, using observations by Japanese satellite, MOS-1. To establish relationships between satellite data and precipitable waters above different standard pressure surfaces the radiosounding measurements are considered. It is concluded that the precipitable water only in the middle and the upper troposphere may be derived from satellite image and that in the lower troposphere can be evaluated from dew points at the earth surface. Applying the relationship obtained in such way for the total precipitable water a correlation coefficient of 0.89 is found between the measured and calculated data.