Estimation of spatio-temporal distribution of precipitable water using MODIS and AVHRR data: a case study for Cyprus

In this paper, the atmospheric precipitable water (PW) over the area of Cyprus was estimated by means of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) thermal channels brightness temperature difference (ΔT). The AVHRR derived ΔT was calculated in a grid of 5 × 5 km cells; the corresponding PW value in each grid cell was extracted from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 2 product (near-infrared algorithm). Once the PW – ΔT relationship coefficients corresponding to the area of Cyprus were calculated, the relationship was applied to AVHRR data for one month period. Radiosonde derived PW values, as well as MODIS independent PW values were used to validate the estimations and a good agreement was noted.