A Comparative Study of Atmospheric Profiles over Central Himalayan Region by using Ground-Based Measurements and Radiosonde Observations

In this study, we analyzed and compared the data of meteorological parameters such as pressure, temperature and relative humidity, obtained with the Microwave Radiometer Profiler (MWRP) and radiosonde. The MWRP was deployed at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) Nainital, during Ganges Valley Aerosol Experiment (GVAX) in order to carry out the vertical profiling of these meteorological parameters, for a period of 10 months (June 2011 to March 2012). Simultaneously, four radiosondes were launched in a day during the entire campaign. For MWRP, quality checked vertical profiles of the data archived for the months of February (winter) and March (spring) 2012, are analyzed on the basis of diurnal and monthly variations of height above mean sea level (AMSL) from 2 km to 12 km. The analysis showed that the same pressure variation for both the observations during February and March 2012. However, significant differences in the variation of temperature and relative humidity were observed. For the mentioned period, MWRP observations of pressure and temperature showed relatively lower values as compared to radiosonde on going above from 2 to 12 km. The correlation between MWRP and radiosonde observations have been calculated for the above-mentioned parameters. A strong and significant correlation (0.90 to 0.99) for temperature and pressure were observed between MWRP and radiosonde observations, however, the insignificant correlation has been found in the case of relative humidity.