Intercomparison of tropical tropospheric humidity in GCMs with AMSU-B water vapor data

[1] We make use of microwave measurements of the tropical free tropospheric relative humidity (FTH) to evaluate the extent to which the water vapor distribution in four general circulation models is faithful to reality. The comparison is performed in the tropics by sorting the FTH in dynamical regimes defined upon the 500 hPa vertical velocity. Because microwave radiation penetrates non-rainy and warm clouds, we are able to estimate the FTH over most of the dynamical regimes that characterize the tropics. The comparisons reveal that two models simulate a free troposphere drier than observed (<10%), while the others agree with the observations. Despite some differences, the level of agreement is good enough to lend confidence in the representation of atmospheric moistening processes. A climate change scenario, tested on two models, shows a tendency to maintain the FTH to an almost fixed value be it an ascending or a subsiding regime. Citation: Brogniez, H., and R. T. Pierrehumbert (2007), Intercomparison of tropical tropospheric humidity in GCMs with AMSU-B water vapor data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L17812, doi:10.1029/2006GL029118.