Estimating total precipitable water distribution across Free State Province, South Africa using remote sensing data and tools

TPW is very important in climatological studies and it is largely influenced by but not limited to seas surface temperatures (SSTs) and elevation. TPW has been retrieved for different studies across the globe mostly using the microwave sensor. Most often than not the derived TPW is retrieved hourly and products can be used to further inform dry and wet conditions across different regions. The aim of this paper is the present the distribution of TPW across Free State, South Africa from 1999–2000. Effective determination of TPW across space aids in the management of available water especially in regions that are prone or battling drought. Total precipitable water, TPW and SST, was retrieved from the Google Earth Engine platform using NCEP Reanalysis and Ocean Color SMI: Standard Mapped Image MODIS Aqua Data respectively. The extracted dataset in. csv was analyzed in R. TPW is an important parameter for all studies centered around the atmosphere and its properties, in the assessment of solar energy especially in places where water vapour plays an important role. The distribution of TPW shows the variability in the spread across the entire study area. The concentration shows higher values at the fringers in the northwestern tip and northeastern tip.