Analysis of global trends of total column water vapour from multiple years of OMI observations

Abstract

In this study, we investigate trends in total column water vapour (TCWV) retrieved from measurements of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) for the time range between January 2005 to December 2020. The trend analysis reveals, on global average, an annual increase in the TCWV amount of approximately +0.054 kg m−2 yr−1 or +0.21 % yr−1. After the application of a Z test (to the significance level of 5 %) and a false discovery rate (FDR) test to the results of the trend analysis, mainly positive trends remain, in particular over the northern subtropics in the eastern Pacific. Combining the relative TCWV trends with trends in air temperature, we also analyse trends in relative humidity (RH) on the local scale. This analysis reveals that the assumption of temporally invariant RH is not always fulfilled, as we obtain increasing and decreasing RH trends over large areas of the ocean and land surface and also observe that these trends are not limited to arid and humid regions, respectively. For instance, we find decreasing RH trends over the (humid) tropical Pacific Ocean in the region of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Interestingly, these decreasing RH trends in the tropical Pacific Ocean coincide well with decreasing trends in precipitation. Moreover, by combining the trends of TCWV, surface temperature, and precipitation, we derive trends for the global water vapour turnover time (TUT) of approximately +0.02 d yr−1. Also, we obtain a TUT rate of change of around 8.4 % K−1, which is 2 to 3 times higher than the values obtained in previous studies.