A statistical evaluation and comparison of VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) data and corresponding rawinsonde measurements

Three mesoscale sounding data sets from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) produced using different retrieval techniques were evaluated of corresponding ground truth rawinsonde data for 6-7 March 1982. Mean, standard deviations, and RMS differences between the satellite and rawinsonde parameters were calculated over gridded fields in central Texas and Oklahoma. Large differences exist between each satellite data set and the ground truth data. Biases in the satellite temperature and moisture profiles seem extremely dependent upon the three dimensional structure of the atmosphere and range from 1 deg to 3 deg C for temperature and 3 deg to 6 deg C for dewpoint temperature. Atmospheric gradients of basic and derived parameters determined from the VAS data sets produced an adequate representation of the mesoscale environment but their magnitudes were often reduced by 30 to 50%.