Spacebased estimation of moisture transport in marine atmosphere using support vector regression

An improved algorithm is developed based on support vector regression (SVR) to estimate horizonal water vapor transport integrated through the depth of the atmosphere (Θ) over the global ocean from observations of surface wind-stress vector by QuikSCAT, cloud drift wind vector derived from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and geostationary satellites, and precipitable water from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). The statistical relation is established between the input parameters (the surface wind stress, the 850 mb wind, the precipitable water, time and location) and the target data (Θ calculated from rawinsondes and reanalysis of numerical weather prediction model). The results are validated with independent daily rawinsonde observations, monthly mean reanalysis data, and through regional water balance. This study clearly demonstrates the improvement of Θ derived from satellite data using SVR over previous data sets based on linear regression and neural network. The SVR methodology reduces both mean bias and standard deviation compared with rawinsonde observations. It agrees better with observations from synoptic to seasonal time scales, and compare more favorably with the reanalysis data on seasonal variations. Only the SVR result can achieve the water balance over South America. The rationale of the advantage by SVR method and the impact of adding the upper level wind will also be discussed.