ESSIC/CISESS scientists Yan Zhou, Chris Grassotti, Yong-Keun Lee, and John Xun Yang are co-authors on a new paper in Scientific Reports titled “Trends of temperature and total precipitable water, as well as the trend of surface pressure induced by CO2”.
The researchers, led by NOAA/STAR scientist Quanhua (Mark) Liu and alongside CIRA scientist collaborator Shuyan Liu, analyzed long-term trends in atmospheric water vapor (total precipitable water), surface air temperature, and surface pressure from ERA5 reanalysis data during the period 2012 – 2024. The analysis yielded several important results:
(1) Positive trends in total precipitable water and 2-meter air temperature during this period were 0.227 mm and 0.332 K per decade, respectively.
(2) An increase in CO2 concentration during the period of analysis contributes to an increase of roughly 0.037 hPa per decade in surface pressure, which represents 57% of the total surface pressure trend
(3) Global trends based on using ERA5 hourly analyses and trends based only on analyses near 1:30 am and 1:30 pm local times are nearly identical.
This last result is important as it indicates that well-calibrated satellite observations from a single polar orbiting satellite, such as NOAA-21 ATMS, which observes most locations only twice daily may be sufficient for accurately determining trends in climate-sensitive variables such as water vapor and temperature.
Yan Zhou received the B.S. degree from Zhejiang University, China; the M.S. degree from the University of Georgia, U.S.; and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland, U.S.; all in the major of Atmospheric Science. From 2015 to 2018, she worked for the CICS-MD Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) Project at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), University of Maryland. Since 2019, she has worked at the ESSIC, in cooperation with NOAA/STAR for the Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS) project.
Christopher Grassotti received a B.S. degree in earth and space science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA, in 1982, tan M.S. degree in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA, in 1986, and an M.S. degree in viticulture and enology from AgroMontpellier, Montpellier, France, in 2007. From 1986 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 2005, he was a Research Associate, Senior Research Associate and Staff Scientist with Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Lexington, MA, USA. From 1991 to 1993, he was with the Atmospheric Environmental Service, Environment Canada, Dorval, QC, Canada. Since 2008, he has been with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, College Park, MD, USA. He has been a Senior Faculty Specialist with ESSIC/CISESS since 2015.
Yong-Keun Lee received a B.S. degree in atmospheric science from Seoul National University, Seoul Korea, in 1994, and M.S. degree in atmospheric science from the same University in 1996. Between 1996 and 1999, he was with the Republic of Korea Air Force, and between 1999 and 2001, he was a Research Scientist with Korea Meteorological Administration. He received a Ph.D. degree in atmospheric science from Texas A&M University in 2006. Between 2006 and 2018, he was a Research Scientist with SSEC/CIMSS and he has been a Research Scientist with ESSIC/CISESS since 2018.
John Yang is an Associate Research Scientist at ESSIC/CISESS. His research areas include Earth remote sensing, microwave radiometry, hardware development, calibration, and retrievals. He has been involved with a number of NASA/NOAA satellite missions, including the Aquarius, GPM, CYGNSS, JPSS, and TROPICS. He is a senior member of IEEE and an associate editor of IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (JSTARS).
To access the article, click here: “Trends of temperature and total precipitable water, as well as the trend of surface pressure induced by CO2”.
