{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T14:44:45Z","timestamp":1772721885659,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,14]],"date-time":"2020-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1597363200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100016270","name":"Global Challenges Research Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NE\/P021077\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NE\/P021077\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100016270","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The vertical profiles of temperature and water vapour from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) have been validated across various regions of the globe as an effort to provide a substitute for radiosonde observations. However, there is a paucity of inter-comparisons over West Africa where local convective processes dominate and radiosonde observations (RAOBs) are limited. This study validates AIRS temperature and relative humidity profiles for selected radiosonde stations in West Africa. Radiosonde data were obtained from the AMMA and DACCIWA campaigns which spanned 2006\u20132008 and June\u2013July 2016 respectively and offered a period of prolonged radiosonde observations in West Africa. AIRS performance was evaluated with the bias and root mean square difference (RMSD) at seven RAOB stations which were grouped into coastal and inland. Evaluation was performed on diurnal and seasonal timescales, cloud screening conditions and derived thunderstorm instability indices. At all timescales, the temperature RMSD was higher than the AIRS accuracy mission goal of \u00b11 K. Relative humidity RMSD was satisfactory with deviations &lt;20% and &lt;50% for both lower and upper troposphere respectively. AIRS retrieval of water vapour under cloudy and cloud-free conditions had no significant difference whereas cloud-free temperature was found to be more accurate. The seasonal evolution of some thunderstorm convective indices were also found to be comparable for AIRS and RAOB. The ability of AIRS to capture the evolution of these indices imply it will be a useful dataset for the African Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (SWIFT) high impact weather studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs12162631","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,14]],"date-time":"2020-08-14T08:28:35Z","timestamp":1597393715000},"page":"2631","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Inter-Comparison of AIRS Temperature and Relative Humidity Profiles with AMMA and DACCIWA Radiosonde Observations over West Africa"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3481-7222","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marian Amoakowaah","family":"Osei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Meteorology and Climate Science Unit, Physics Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), UPO, P.O. Box PMB, Kumasi AK-039, Ghana"}]},{"given":"Leonard Kofitse","family":"Amekudzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Meteorology and Climate Science Unit, Physics Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), UPO, P.O. Box PMB, Kumasi AK-039, Ghana"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0821-5922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Craig R.","family":"Ferguson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, 251 Fuller Road, CESTM L122, Albany, NY 12203, USA"}]},{"given":"Sylvester Kojo","family":"Danuor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Geophysics Unit, Physics Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), UPO, P.O. Box PMB, Kumasi AK-039, Ghana"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6816","DOI":"10.1002\/jgrd.50483","article-title":"Validation of AIRS\/AMSU-A water vapor and temperature data with in situ aircraft observations from the surface to UT\/LS from 87 N\u201367 S","volume":"118","author":"Diao","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Divakarla, M.G., Barnet, C.D., Goldberg, M.D., McMillin, L.M., Maddy, E., Wolf, W., Zhou, L., and Liu, X. (2006). Validation of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder temperature and water vapor retrievals with matched radiosonde measurements and forecasts. J. Geophys. Res. 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