The fourth-generation Water Vapor Millimeter-Wave Spectrometer

For 20 years the Naval Research Laboratory has been making continuous water vapor profile measurements at 22.235 GHz with the Water Vapor Millimeter-Wave Spectrometer (WVMS) instruments, with the program expanding from one to three instruments in the first 6 years. Since the initial deployments there have been gradual improvements in the instrument design which have improved data quality and reduced maintenance requirements. Recent technological developments have made it possible to entirely redesign the instrument and improve not only the quality of the measurements but also the capability of the instrument. We present the fourth-generation instrument now operating at Table Mountain, California, which incorporates the most recent advances in microwave radiometry. This instrument represents the most significant extension of our measurement capability to date, enabling us to measure middle atmospheric water vapor from ~26–80 km.