Impact of a New Temperature-Dependence Correction on Historical Meisei Radiosonde Humidity Data

抄録

A new temperature-dependence correction (T-D correction) for Meisei RS2-91, RS-01G, and RS-06G radiosonde relative humidity (RH) measurements has been developed recently to remove the artificial stepwise change of ∼3% RH at 0°C associated with the present (original) correction. These radiosondes have been used at most of the Japanese upper-air stations since the 1990s. The historical radiosonde humidity records at Sapporo and Tateno stations on the 925, 700, and 500 hPa pressure levels show apparent large downward trends between 1999 and 2009. This is because the original T-D correction has only been applied since February 2003 after a moist bias was discovered. The new T-D correction is found to result in a much smaller downward RH trend at Sapporo and almost no trend at Tateno.