MACPEX Water Measurement Comparison

The Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX) airborne field campaign was conducted in March and April 2011 to investigate cirrus cloud properties and the processes that affect their impact on radiation. In pursuit of this goal the NASA WB-57 was outfitted with dozens of in-situ instruments from government and university science teams including a wide range of water instruments. This provided an unprecedented situation to compare eight water instruments on one platform measuring water vapor (CIMS, DLH, HWV, JLH, and ULH), total water (ALIAS and FISH) and ice water content (CLH/IWC) for 14 flight days. Objective and data-driven approaches were applied to analyze the comparison data and to assess the consistency levels between the instruments and instrument uncertainties. The analysis is primarily focused on the upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric conditions, paying particular attention to water levels below 20 ppmv and between 20 - 120 ppmv depending on specific instrument data coverage. To be presented are comparison results suggesting the level of the agreement among the instrument as a function of atmospheric conditions, e.g., temperature and water vapor. Also discussed are some exploratory analyses of instrument precisions.