摘要： Radio occultation (RO) observations of precipitable water (PW) from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) are compared with ground‐based Global Positioning System (GPS) PW for 6 years (2007–2012). From comparisons of more than 120,000 collocated samples, differences in PW between RO and GPS exhibit a standard deviation of less than 3 mm with a global correlation of 0.96 to 0.97. The monthly mean RO PW is also compared to the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalyses. PWs over land for RO, GPS, and reanalyses are highly correlated in each hemisphere. We also used the RO data to explore the variation of the monthly mean PW in four regions (Tibetan Plateau, central Australia, Amazon Basin, and central Africa) where ground stations are few. This study highlights the characteristics of these PW climatologies, suggesting that the RO data are useful complements to global reanalyses and other data sets. Key Points Comparison between COSMIC PW and ground‐based PW shows a correlation of 0.97 COSMIC RO data can improve global monitoring of PW over lands COSMIC RO data explore the evolution of monthly mean PW in four regions 其他題名： Geophys. Res. Lett 出版者： Washington: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 出版日期： 2013-10-16 出處： Geophysical research letters, 2013-10, Vol.40 (19), p.5327-5331 資源來源： Wiley Online Library - AutoHoldings Journals 版權： 2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. 識別號： ISSN: 0094-8276 識別號： ISSN: 1944-8007 識別號： EISSN: 1944-8007 識別號： DOI: 10.1002/grl.50885
