# How can I estimate relative humidity ($e/e_s$) from temperature and dewpoint?

## Background

my goal is to estimate vapor pressure deficit ($vpd$) from Relative Humidity ($rh = \frac{e}{e_s}$):

$$vpd = \frac{100 - \frac{e}{e_s}}{100} e_s$$

(from Hartmann "Global Physical Climatology)

But it is surprisingly difficult to find values of climatological mean $rh$ (e.g. see motivating question at gis.SE. It turns out that WeatherUnderground provides values of dewpoint.

## Problem

At first I thought it would be trivial to convert from dewpoint to $e$ or $rh$, but according to Lawrence 2005, there is no direct conversion, only a "highly accurate conversion" to get from water vapor pressure ($e$) to the dewpoint ($t_d$) (equation 7):

$$t_d = \frac{B (ln\frac{e}{C})}{A - ln (\frac{e}{C})}$$

Where $[A,B,C]$ are empirical constants$[17.625, 243.04^oC,610.94Pa]$

## Questions

1. why is there no exact relationship between $e$ and $t_d$?
2. how can I solve the last equation for $e = f(t_d)$ (or $rh$)?
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For the second question, you can move $t_d$ to the right hand side so it is set to zero and use Newton's Method or the Secant Method to find the root. Since it is analytical, you actually can find the derivative function needed to make it easier.