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Water Vapor

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 188 Accesses

Synonyms

Atmospheric humidity; Atmospheric moisture

Definition

Water vapor. Water in gaseous form, usually mixed with dry air in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Water vapor mixing ratio. The ratio of density of water vapor to the density of air. Typical values range from a few grams/kilogram in the tropical lower troposphere to a few micrograms/kilogram around the tropopause.

Relative humidity. The ratio of water vapor partial pressure to saturation vapor pressure. A common measure of water vapor amount, but not conserved as an air parcel changes temperature. Mixing ratio is conserved.

Saturation vapor pressure. Maximum partial pressure of water vapor adjacent to a plain surface of water or ice. Water vapor saturation vapor pressure follows the Clausius-Clapeyron relation for water and varies approximately exponentially with temperature.

Clausius-Clapeyron relation. Equation relating equilibrium pressure of a gaseous substance adjacent to a solid or liquid surface. The Clausius-Clapeyron...

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Acknowledgment

This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the NASA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Eric Fetzer

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  1. Eric Fetzer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Eni G. Njoku

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Fetzer, E. (2014). Water Vapor. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_194

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