Data Products: Total Precipitable Water

The total precipitable water (TPW) product is computed from the retrieved atmospheric moisture profiles and represents the total integrated moisture in the atmospheric column from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. This product provides useful information to weather forecasters and hydrologists to improve their situational awareness for a number of situations that require forecasting of events, such as heavy rain, flash flooding, onset of Gulf of Mexico return flow, and the onset of the Southwest United States monsoon. The TPW product also serves to initialize the moisture field used in numerical weather prediction models.