Estimating the tropospheric water vapor content along a transmitter-receiver link: The SWAMM project

In this paper the methodology to retrieve the vertical profilesof water vapor starting from microwave measurements isdiscussed. The novel technique, is based on a microwaveradio link and the measure of differential attenuation of twosignals transmitted at closely spaced frequencies in the Ku-Kband. The capability to gain insight about the water vapourdistribution in atmosphere and the potential strong impact onthe weather prediction chains is also discussed.