Articles | Volume 7, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3813-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3813-2014
Research article
 | 
19 Nov 2014
Research article |  | 19 Nov 2014

Quantifying the value of redundant measurements at GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network sites

F. Madonna, M. Rosoldi, J. Güldner, A. Haefele, R. Kivi, M. P. Cadeddu, D. Sisterson, and G. Pappalardo

Abstract. The potential for measurement redundancy to reduce uncertainty in atmospheric variables has not been investigated comprehensively for climate observations. We evaluated the usefulness of entropy and mutual correlation concepts, as defined in information theory, for quantifying random uncertainty and redundancy in time series of the integrated water vapour (IWV) and water vapour mixing ratio profiles provided by five highly instrumented GRUAN (GCOS, Global Climate Observing System, Reference Upper-Air Network) stations in 2010–2012. Results show that the random uncertainties on the IWV measured with radiosondes, global positioning system, microwave and infrared radiometers, and Raman lidar measurements differed by less than 8%. Comparisons of time series of IWV content from ground-based remote sensing instruments with in situ soundings showed that microwave radiometers have the highest redundancy with the IWV time series measured by radiosondes and therefore the highest potential to reduce the random uncertainty of the radiosondes time series. Moreover, the random uncertainty of a time series from one instrument can be reduced by ~ 60% by constraining the measurements with those from another instrument. The best reduction of random uncertainty is achieved by conditioning Raman lidar measurements with microwave radiometer measurements. Specific instruments are recommended for atmospheric water vapour measurements at GRUAN sites. This approach can be applied to the study of redundant measurements for other climate variables.

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Short summary
The paper provides the community with criteria to quantify the value of complementary climate measurements and to assess how the uncertainty in a measurement of an ECV is reduced by measurement complementarity. The study demonstrates the potential of entropy and mutual correlation, defined in information theory as metrics for quantifying synergies, and shows that the random uncertainties of a single instrument time series of TCWV can be strongly reduced by including complementary measurements.