The calibration of the Meteosat water vapor channel image data is of prime importance for a quantitative use. The vicarious calibration technique employs the use of data from radiosonde ascents. A screening technique, removing spurious radiosonde information, has been improved and used operationally since February 4, 1994. It involves new quality control checks on satellite zenith angle and the upper tropospheric relative humidity measured by the radiosonde, leading to lower (about 8%) and more stable calibration.

The operational calibration technique uses averages for the clear-sky (above 700 hPa) satellite observations over large areas and relates them to expected radiances at the top of the atmosphere, determined from radiosonde data. The approach, valid owing to the small gradients in the water vapor field in such areas, restricts the number of usable radiosonde observations severely. An alternative calibration method is outlined, which uses a smaller clear-sky area, thus accepting more radiosonde ascents. This method further decreases the variability of the calibration coefficient by about 20%. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995.