MWRpy: A Python package for processing microwave radiometer data

Ground-based passive microwave radiometers (MWRs) are deployed to obtain information on the vertical structure of temperature and water vapor mostly in the lower troposphere.In addition, they are used to derive the total column-integrated liquid water content of the atmosphere, referred to as liquid water path (LWP).MWRs measure radiances, given as brightness temperatures ( ), typically in two frequency ranges along absorption features of water vapor and oxygen, as well as in window regions where the observations are sensitive to liquid water clouds.Profiles of temperature and humidity are retrieved together with the vertically integrated water vapor content (IWV) and LWP (e.g., Crewell & Löhnert (2003), Löhnert & Maier ( 2012)).A specific elevation scanning configuration allows for an improved resolution for temperature profiles in the atmospheric boundary-layer (Crewell & Löhnert, 2007).The instruments can be operated continuously and provide temporally highly resolved observations of up to 1, which makes them a valuable tool for improving numerical weather forecasts and climate models by studying the atmospheric water cycle, including cloud dynamics (Westwater et al., 2004).