Water Vapor Profiles: Evaluating COSMIC Capabilities and Limitations Related to Climate Needs...

Climate issues that COSMIC might address (not an exhaustive list) Reference Atmospheric Profile Observations: need for highly accurate, long-term upper-air temperature and humidity (separable from each other) profiles, from the surface through the lower stratosphere (or even higher) –GCOS reference upper-air network (GRUAN) has noted the promising potential of GPS/RO methods to make an important (but still not fully demonstrated???) contribution UTLS (upper troposphere/lower stratosphere) Water Vapor: –radiative effects of UTLS WV –cloud microphysical processes –WV feedback processes Tropopause Structure and Variability: –Strat/trop coupling and exchange –Multiple tropopause structures –Tropopause as a climate change indicator