Stratospheric Water-Vapor Upper Limits Inferred From Upper-Air Observations: Part I. Northern Hemisphere
Abstract Observational data from the lower stratosphere are examined to determine to what extent an upper limit can be placed on the water-vapor content of that region of the atmosphere, a quantity which is presently in controversy by half an order of magnitude. Presented herein are the details of a systematic search of 37 winter months (November 1964–December 1971) of Northern Hemispheric 30-mb and 50-mb synoptic maps, as well as a search of over 170,000 individual radiosonde 30-mb temperature soundings for the same period. In addition, the results of a search of all available high-latitude Northern Hemispheric meteorological rocket data and a study of the 30-mb climatology for Jan Mayen Island are presented. The results of these studies are compared with the results of a careful literature search, as well as an inquiry to an airline pilot's volunteer organization, for reports of stratospheric cloud observations. The extreme sparsity of such observations, even with allowance for possible obscuring effect...