Microwave instruments in the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change NDACC provide measurements of the vertical profiles of O3, H2O, and ClO in the stratosphere and mesosphere. The vertical profile information is derived from the change in pressure broadening as a function of altitude. These instruments can operate nearly continuously, and provide information on tracer variations on timescales from diurnal to multi-decadal.
Find below a selection of information selected by the microwave steering committee members. To post any relevant information for the NDACC MW Group send an email containing all necessary information to the Webmaster.
How to get a NDACC status for your instrument
- Guidelines for the Evaluation of New Primary and Complementary Instruments and Instrument Teams (Microwave Instruments) pdf-version.
- General information on quality criteria for NDACC instruments can be found in the Protocols section at the NDACC Homepage.
Downloads / Links
Find a list of related links and document-downloads at the Download/Link section.
Validation of the ground based microwave radiometers of NDACC for middle atmospheric water vapor
In this study water vapor measurements of the five 22 GHz radiometers from Onsala, Bern, Seoul (no NDACC instrument), Mauna Loa and Lauder have been compared to the global observations of Aura/MLS. A common set of spectroscopic parameters as well as a common source for the temperature profile have been used in the retrievals of the radiometers. The agreement between the ground based radiometers and MLS is better than 8% and the agreement between the radiometers is better than 10% in an altitude range from 3 to 0.01 hPa.
The study is published in JGR:
A. Haefele, E. De Wachter, K. Hocke, N. Kämpfer, G. E. Nedoluha, R. M. Gomez, P. Eriksson, P. Forkman, A. Lambert, M. J. Schwartz, Validation of ground based microwave radiometers at 22 GHz for stratospheric and mesospheric water vapor, J. of Geophys. Res., vol. 114, Dec. 2009. doi: 10.1029/2009JD011997