Water vapor sounding with the far infrared REFIR-PAD spectroradiometer from a high-altitude ground-based station during the ECOWAR campaign

The Radiation Explorer in the Far InfraRed-Prototype for Applications and Development (REFIR-PAD) spectroradiometer was operated from the Testa Grigia Italian-Alps station in March 2007 during the Earth Cooling by Water Vapour Radiation (ECOWAR) measurement campaign, obtaining downwelling radiance spectra in the 100-1100 cm(-1) range, under clear-sky conditions and in the presence of cirrus clouds. The analysis of these measurements has proven that the instrument is capable of determining precipitable water vapor with a total uncertainty of 5-7% by using the far-infrared rotational band of water. The measurement is unaffected by the presence of cirri, whose optical depth can be instead retrieved as an additional parameter. Information on the vertical profiles of water vapor volume mixing ratio and temperature can also be retrieved for three altitude levels. The ability to measure the water vapor column with a simple, uncooled instrument, capable of operating continuously and with a time resolution of about 10 min, makes REFIR-PAD a very valuable instrument for meteorological and climatological studies for the characterization of the water vapor distribution.