Middle Atmospheric Water vapor vertical Profiles at the Thule High Arctic Atmospheric Observatory (THAAO_MAWP)

Measurements of middle atmospheric water vapor mixing ratio vertical profiles at the Thule High Arctic Atmospheric Observatory (THAAO) carried out by means of a microwave spectrometer (VESPA-22) designed and built at the INGV laboratories in Rome. Measurements start in July 2016 and are carried out all year round. VESPA-22 measures the water vapor emission line at 22.235 GHz with a spectral passband of 500 MHz and a resolution of 32 kHz. These spectra are saved in 20-minute files and are then integrated for 24 hours in order to improve the S/N ratio. Spectra are inverted or "deconvolved" using the Optimal Estimation Method to estimate the vertical distribution of water vapor concentration that originated the spectral signal recorded by VESPA-22 at the surface. During the years 2020-2023 data collection is also funded by the Environment Department of INGV through project MACMAP.