FY2E - TPW
Total Precipitable Water for Clear Sky

The Total Precipitable Water (TPW) is one of the most important parameters widely used to describe the amount of water vapor. TPW is the amount of liquid water, if all the atmospheric water vapour in the column were condensed. High values of TPW in clear air often become antecedent conditions prior to the development of heavy precipitation and flash floods. When high TPW values areas present a lifting mechanism and warm advection in low levels, heavy precipitation often occurs. Various retrieval methods of TPW using geostationary satellite data have been developed, in particular, using the thermal infrared channels, so called split-window channels, near 11.0 and 12.0 μm.

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David J. Taylor
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