Estimating the tropospheric water vapor content along a transmitter-receiver link: The SWAMM project

In this paper the methodology to retrieve the vertical profiles of water vapor starting from microwave measurements is discussed. The novel technique, is based on a microwave radio link and the measure of differential attenuation of two signals transmitted at closely spaced frequencies in the Ku-K band. The capability to gain insight about the water vapour distribution in atmosphere and the potential strong impact on the weather prediction chains is also discussed.