Apparatus monitors a meniscus process that is performed on wafers. Monitoring data for a current process received by a processor indicates characteristics of a gap between the wafer and a process head. The processor is configured to respond to the data that is in the form of orientation monitor signals and to respond to a current recipe. The processor generates meniscus monitor signals for allowing the meniscus to remain stable in further meniscus processing. The monitoring is of current meniscus processing to determine whether a current gap (i) is other than a desired gap of the current recipe, and (ii) corresponds to a stable meniscus. If so, a calibration recipe is identified as specifying the current gap. This calibration recipe specifies parameters for meniscus processing the wafer surface with the current gap. The meniscus processing of the wafer surface is continued using the parameters specified by the identified calibration recipe.