File:Relative humidity distributions within thin cirrus for several regions and inter-annual variations in the Indian Ocean (8385560948).jpg

English: These sub-panels show differences in the characteristics of RHic histograms within thin cirrus clouds for different regions and time periods. (A) Normalized RHic distributions over the N. Indian Ocean and partitioned by year (2002-2006). (B) same as (A) except for the S. Indian Ocean. (C) Normalized RHic distributions for the tropical ocean average (±20 latitude) and for four sub-regions: the NH, SH, and N. and S. Indian Oceans. These histograms show that the variability from year to year is somewhat higher in the N. Indian Ocean versus the S. Indian Ocean, even though the total counts in the histograms are very similar. Furthermore, they also show that the North Indian Ocean tends to have 5-10% higher RHic compared to other regions. Whether this is caused by anthropogenic activity (e.g., aerosols) or controlled by the dynamics of the South Asian monsoon, or another cause is yet to be determined.

Citation Kahn, B. H., Liang, C. K., Eldering, A., Gettelman, A., Yue, Q., and Liou, K. N.: Tropical thin cirrus and relative humidity observed by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 1501-1518, 2008.

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About AIRS The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, AIRS, in conjunction with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit, AMSU, sense emitted infrared and microwave radiation from the Earth to provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather and climate. Working in tandem, the two instruments make simultaneous observations all the way down to the Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-dimensional map of atmospheric temperature and humidity, cloud amounts and heights, greenhouse gas concentrations, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS and AMSU fly onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and are managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Credit NASA/JPL AIRS Project

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