Atmospheric humidity variations associated with westerly wind bursts during Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE)

Precipitable water determined from special sensor microwave/imager brightness temperatures is used to examine westerly wind bursts (WWBs) in the equatorial western Pacific. Six microwave satellite water vapor retrieval algorithms were tested for their performance in the tropics. The study of two major WWB events and several localized and short-lived wind perturbations in the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) domain unveils the relationship between precipitable water field and anomalous wind regimes. WWBs are found to be accompanied by a drastic drop in the precipitable water amount. -from Authors