Retrieval of the change of precipitable water vapor with zenith tropospheric delay in the Chinese mainland

As a preliminary step for assessing the impact of global positioning system (GPS) refractive delay data in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, the GPS zenith tropospheric delays (ZTD) are analyzed from 28 permanent GPS sites in the Chinese mainland. The objectives are to estimate the GPS ZTD and their variability in this area. The differences between radiosonde precipitable water vapor (PWV) and GPS PWV have a standard deviation of 4 mm in delay, a bias of 0.24 mm in delay, and a correlation coefficient of 0.94. The correlation between GPS ZTD and radiosonde PWV amounts to 0.89, indicating that the variety of tropospheric zenith delay can reflect the change of precipitable water vapor. The good agreement also guarantees that the information provided by GPS will benefit the NWP models. The time series of GPS ZTD, which were derived continuously from 2002 to 2004, are used to analyze the change of precipitable water vapor in Chinese mainland. It shows that the general trend of GPS ZTD is diminishing from the south-east coastland to the north-west inland, which is in accordance with the distribution of Chinese annual amount of rainfall. The temporal distribution of GPS ZTD in the Chinese mainland is that the GPS ZTD reaches maximum in summer, and it reaches minimum in winter. The long term differences between the observational data sources require further study before GPS derived data become useful for climate studies.     

General aspect of GPS data use for atmospheric science

The radio link between a GPS satellite and a GPS receiver is appropriate for bistatic radar sounding of the Earth's atmosphere, ionosphere, and ocean surface (latter in case of GPS reflection). Measurements of GPS phases and amplitudes are currently performed by spaceborne, airborne, mountain- and ground-based GPS receivers. In the present paper, an uniform approach based on geometrical optics and spherical symmetry of the atmosphere is applied to various GPS observation configurations. Atmospheric mapping function, influence and retrieval of ionospheric layers/disturbances, tropospheric water vapor, and possible measurement of vertical winds and wave velocities are investigated by use of simulation data of GPS phase path excess and bending angle.     

Tomographic determination of the spatial distribution of water vapor using GPS observations

With the advent of the GPS navigation system, a promising ground based technique has been introduced which makes it possible to estimate the amount of water vapor in the troposphere from operational GPS networks at relatively low additional costs. While the estimation of the integrated amount is currently well established, the determination of the spatial water vapor distribution and its temporal variation are still a major challenge. To account for the vertical resolution, several tomographic approaches were pursued. We developed the software package AWATOS (atmospheric water vapor tomography software) which is based on the assimilation of double differenced GPS observations. Applying a least-squares inversion, the inhomogeneous spatial distribution of water vapor is determined. An extensive investigation has been carried out in Switzerland. GPS measurements are performed by the dense permanent Swiss national GPS network AGNES of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo). A total of 40 equally distributed water vapor profiles have been estimated on an hourly basis. For the purpose of validation, 22 radiosonde profiles were used at the GPS and meteorological station Payerne. Furthermore, data of the numerical weather model aLMo (alpine model in Switzerland, MeteoSwiss) were compared with the tomographic results. An overall good agreement of the three methods with an rms of better than 1.6 g/m³ absolute humidity was achieved. The results show that AGNES can be used as a dedicated network for the purpose of GPS-tomography, using a horizontal resolution of approximately 50 km and height layers of 300–500 m thickness in the lower troposphere.     

Variability of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere observed with GPS radio occultation bending angles and temperatures

Recently, Lewis (2009) introduced a new method for the identification of tropopause heights (TPHs) from GPS radio occultation (RO) bending angles (α)$(\alpha )$. The method uses a covariance transform to identify transitions in a ln(α)$\mathit{ln}(\alpha )$ profile. Lewis validates the results with lapse rate tropopause (LRT) heights from one year of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC data and radiosondes. In this study we apply the new method to the RO data sets from CHAMP/GRACE (2001–2009) and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (2006–2009). These results are the basis for TPH trend estimations for the time period between May 2001 and August 2009 (100 months) based on zonal monthly mean GPS RO data from CHAMP (2001–2008), GRACE (since 2006) and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (since 2006). Further, we compare the α$\alpha$ based TPH trends with LRT height trends and discuss the differences, which are largest in the subtropical regions (20°–40°) on both the northern and southern hemisphere. A global increase of the TPH between 5 and 9 m/yr is found for both methods and different data sets (CHAMP/GRACE alone and CHAMP/GRACE plus FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC). The results for the TPH trends are linked with bending angle and temperature trends in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region. Generally, an upper tropospheric warming (bending angle decrease) and a lower stratospheric cooling (bending angle increase) is noted.     

基于STK的GPS/LEO无线电掩星技术仿真研究

GPS/LEO无线电掩星技术反演地球大气参数剖面已经具有较高的精度. 国外开展了多个GPS/LEO掩星项目, 但中国还尚未深入进行相关的实验, 这制约了中国掩星技术的发展. 本文提出基于STK进行GPS/LEO掩星技术研究的方法; 根据GPS/LEO掩星的原理, 推导出掩星事件发生的条件和掩星切点的计算公式; 利用STK对掩星过程进行模拟, 得到掩星数据. 在大气球对称假设和大气模型已知的条件下, 反演得到中性大气折射指数. 通过比较模型和反演数据, 表明反演数据精度较高, 验证了利用STK模拟GPS/LEO掩星实验方法的可行性.      

Characterisation of residual ionospheric errors in bending angles using GNSS RO end-to-end simulations

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) is an innovative meteorological remote sensing technique for measuring atmospheric parameters such as refractivity, temperature, water vapour and pressure for the improvement of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and global climate monitoring (GCM). GNSS RO has many unique characteristics including global coverage, long-term stability of observations, as well as high accuracy and high vertical resolution of the derived atmospheric profiles. One of the main error sources in GNSS RO observations that significantly affect the accuracy of the derived atmospheric parameters in the stratosphere is the ionospheric error. In order to mitigate the effect of this error, the linear ionospheric correction approach for dual-frequency GNSS RO observations is commonly used. However, the residual ionospheric errors (RIEs) can be still significant, especially when large ionospheric disturbances occur and prevail such as during the periods of active space weather. In this study, the RIEs were investigated under different local time, propagation direction and solar activity conditions and their effects on RO bending angles are characterised using end-to-end simulations. A three-step simulation study was designed to investigate the characteristics of the RIEs through comparing the bending angles with and without the effects of the RIEs. This research forms an important step forward in improving the accuracy of the atmospheric profiles derived from the GNSS RO technique.     

Estimated errors in a global gravity wave climatology from GPS radio occultation temperature profiles

In a previous paper by Schmidt et al. (2008), from CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation data, a comparison was made between a Gaussian filter applied to the “complete” temperature profile and to its “separate” tropospheric and stratospheric height intervals, for gravity wave analyses. It was found that the separate filtering method considerably reduces a wave activity artificial enhancement near the tropopause, presumably due to the isolation process of the wave component. We now propose a simple approach to estimate the uncertainty in the calculation of the mean specific wave potential energy content, due exclusively to the filtering process of vertical temperature profiles, independently of the experimental origin of the data. The approach is developed through a statistical simulation, built up from the superposition of synthetic wave perturbations. These are adjusted by a recent gravity wave (GW) climatology and temperature profiles from reanalyses. A systematic overestimation of the mean specific wave potential energy content is detected and its variability with latitude, altitude, season and averaging height interval is highlighted.     

Towards accurate atmospheric mass density determination Using precise positional information of space objects

This paper presents a new method of deriving atmospheric mass densities with a high temporal resolution from precise orbit data of low earth orbiting (LEO) space objects. This method is based on the drag perturbation equation of the semi-major axis of the orbit of LEO space objects which relates the change rate of the semi-major axis to the atmospheric mass density. The effectiveness of the new method is evaluated using the GFZ-ISDC GPS rapid science orbit (RSO) products of the CHAMP satellite over a time period of 3 months. The densities derived using this new method and obtained from accelerometer data are compared and good agreements are achieved. An example of using the derived density to generate good orbit prediction for CHAMP is presented.     

Tomographic reconstruction of wet and total refractivity fields from GNSS receiver networks

One of the most attractive scientific issues in the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signals, from a meteorological point of view, is the retrieval of high resolution tropospheric water vapour maps. The real-time (or quasi real-time) knowledge of such distributions could be very useful for several applications, from operative meteorology to atmospheric modelling. Moreover, the exploitation of wet refractivity field reconstruction techniques can be used for atmospheric delay compensation purposes and, as a very promising activity, it could be applied for example to calibrate SAR or Interferometric-SAR (In-SAR) observations for land remote sensing. This is in fact one of the objectives of the European Space Agency project METAWAVE (Mitigation of Electromagnetic Transmission errors induced by Atmospheric Water vapour Effects), in which several techniques are investigated and results were compared to identify a strategy to remove the contribution of water vapour induced propagation delays in In-SAR products. Within this project, the tomographic reconstruction of three dimensional wet refractivity fields from tropospheric delays observed by a local GNSS network (9 dual frequency GPS receivers) deployed over Como area (Italy), during 12–18 October, 2008, was performed. Despite limitations due to the network design, internal consistency tests prove the efficiency of the adopted tomographic approach: the rms of the difference between reconstructed and GNSS observed Zenith Wet Delays (ZWD) are in the order of 4 mm. A good agreement is also observed between our ZWDs and corresponding delays obtained by vertically integrating independent wet refractivity fields, taken by co-located meteorological analysis. Finally, during the observing period, reconstructed vertical wet refractivity profiles evolution reveals water vapour variations induced by simple cloud covering. Even if our main goal was to demonstrate the effectiveness in adopting tomographic reconstruction procedures for the evaluation of propagation delays inside water vapour fields, the actual water vapour vertical variability and its evolution with time is well reproduced, demonstrating also the effectiveness of the inferred 3D wet refractivity fields.     

Estimation of vertically integrated water vapor in Hungary using MODIS imagery

Information about the amount and spatial structure of atmospheric water vapor is essential in understanding meteorology and the Earth environment. Space-borne remote sensing offers a relatively inexpensive method to estimate atmospheric water vapor in the form of integrated water vapor (IWV). The research activity reported in the present paper is based on the data acquired by the HRPT/MODIS (High Resolution Picture Transmission, MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) receiving station established in Budapest (Hungary) by the Space Research Group of the Eötvös Loránd University. Integrated water vapor is estimated by the remotely sensed data of the MODIS instrument with different methods and also by the operational numerical weather prediction model of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Radiosonde data are used to evaluate the accuracy of the different IWV fields though it has been pointed out that the in situ data also suffers from uncertainties. It was found that both the MODIS and the ECMWF based fields are of good accuracy. The satellite data represent finer scale spatial structures while the ECMWF data have a relatively poor spatial resolution. The high quality IWV fields have proved to be useful for radiative transfer studies such as the atmospheric correction of other satellite data from times different than the overpass times of satellites Terra/Aqua and the forecast times of the model data. For this purpose the temporal variability of IWV is scrutinized both using ECMWF and MODIS data. Taking advantage of Terra and Aqua overpasses, the mean rate of change of IWV estimated by the near infrared method was found to be 0.47 ± 0.45 kg m⁻² h⁻¹, while it was 0.13 ± 0.65 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ based on the infrared method. The numerical weather prediction model’s analysis data estimated −0.01 ± 0.13 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ for the mean growth rate, while using forecast data it was 0.24 ± 0.18 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. MODIS data should be used when available for the estimation of the IWV in other studies. If no satellite data are available, or available data are only from one overpass, ECMWF based IWV can be used. In this case the analysis fields (or the satellite field) should be used for temporal extrapolation but the rate of change should be calculated from the forecast data due to its higher temporal resolution.     

Measuring atmospheric density using GPS–LEO tracking data

We present a method to estimate the total neutral atmospheric density from precise orbit determination of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. We derive the total atmospheric density by determining the drag force acting on the LEOs through centimeter-level reduced-dynamic precise orbit determination (POD) using onboard Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking data. The precision of the estimated drag accelerations is assessed using various metrics, including differences between estimated along-track accelerations from consecutive 30-h POD solutions which overlap by 6 h, comparison of the resulting accelerations with accelerometer measurements, and comparison against an existing atmospheric density model, DTM-2000. We apply the method to GPS tracking data from CHAMP, GRACE, SAC-C, Jason-2, TerraSAR-X and COSMIC satellites, spanning 12 years (2001–2012) and covering orbital heights from 400 km to 1300 km. Errors in the estimates, including those introduced by deficiencies in other modeled forces (such as solar radiation pressure and Earth radiation pressure), are evaluated and the signal and noise levels for each satellite are analyzed. The estimated density data from CHAMP, GRACE, SAC-C and TerraSAR-X are identified as having high signal and low noise levels. These data all have high correlations with anominal atmospheric density model and show common features in relative residuals with respect to the nominal model in related parameter space. On the contrary, the estimated density data from COSMIC and Jason-2 show errors larger than the actual signal at corresponding altitudes thus having little practical value for this study. The results demonstrate that this method is applicable to data from a variety of missions and can provide useful total neutral density measurements for atmospheric study up to altitude as high as 715 km, with precision and resolution between those derived from traditional special orbital perturbation analysis and those obtained from onboard accelerometers.     

Case study of inclined sporadic E layers in the Earth’s ionosphere observed by CHAMP/GPS radio occultations: Coupling between the tilted plasma layers and internal waves

We have used the radio occultation (RO) satellite data CHAMP/GPS (Challenging Minisatellite Payload/Global Positioning System) for studying the ionosphere of the Earth. A method for deriving the parameters of ionospheric structures is based upon an analysis of the RO signal variations in the phase path and intensity. This method allows one to estimate the spatial displacement of a plasma layer with respect to the ray perigee, and to determine the layer inclination and height correction values. In this paper, we focus on the case study of inclined sporadic E (E_s) layers in the high-latitude ionosphere based on available CHAMP RO data. Assuming that the internal gravity waves (IGWs) with the phase-fronts parallel to the ionization layer surfaces are responsible for the tilt angles of sporadic plasma layers, we have developed a new technique for determining the parameters of IGWs linked with the inclined E_s structures. A small-scale internal wave may be modulating initially horizontal E_s layer in height and causing a direction of the plasma density gradient to be rotated and aligned with that of the wave propagation vector k. The results of determination of the intrinsic wave frequency and period, vertical and horizontal wavelengths, intrinsic vertical and horizontal phase speeds, and other characteristics of IGWs under study are presented and discussed.     

Assessment of precision in ionospheric electron density profiles retrieved by GPS radio occultations

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) is a six satellite radio occultation mission that was launched in April 2006. The close proximity of these satellites during some months after launch provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the precision of Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) retrievals of ionospheric electron density from nearly collocated and simultaneous observations. RO data from 30 consecutive days during July and August 2006 are divided into ten groups in terms of daytime or nighttime and latitude. In all cases, the best precision values (about 1%) are found at the F peak height and they slightly degrade upwards. For all daytime groups, it is seen that electron density profiles above about 120 km height exhibit a substantial improvement in precision. Nighttime groups are rather diverse: in particular, the precision becomes better than 10% above different levels between 120 and 200 km height. Our overall results show that up to 100–200 km (depending on each group), the uncertainty associated with the precision is in the order of the measured electron density values. Even worse, the retrieved values tend sometimes to be negative. Although we cannot rely directly on electron density values at these altitudes, the shape of the profiles could be indicative of some ionospheric features (e.g. waves and sporadic E layers). Above 200 km, the profiles of precision are qualitatively quite independent from daytime or latitude. From all the nearly collocated pairs studied, only 49 exhibited a difference between line of sight angles of both RO at the F peak height larger than 10°. After analyzing them we find no clear indications of a significant representativeness error in electron density profiles due to the spherical assumption above 120 km height. Differences in precision between setting and rising GPS RO may be attributed to the modification of the processing algorithms applied to rising cases during the initial period of the COSMIC mission.     

CRISTA-NF measurements of water vapor during the SCOUT-O3 Tropical Aircraft Campaign

The new remote sensing experiment CRISTA-NF (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere – New Frontiers) successfully participated in the SCOUT-O3 Tropical Aircraft Campaign in November and December 2005. CRISTA-NF operated aboard the high-altitude research aircraft M-55 Geophysica. Mid-infrared spectra (4–15 μm) were measured in the limb sounding geometry with high spatial resolution (250 m vertical sampling, 5–15 km along track sampling). Measurements were carried out during transfer flights between Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and Darwin, Australia, as well as during several local flights near Darwin. Water vapor volume mixing ratios in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere were derived from the CRISTA-NF radiance measurements by utilizing a rapid radiative transfer forward model and the optimal estimation retrieval approach. CRISTA-NF water vapor measurements below the hygropause have a total retrieval error of 15–40% (i.e. root mean square of accuracy and precision). The systematic terms are dominating in the retrieval error budget. The contributions of a priori information to the retrieval results are less than 5–10%. The vertical resolution of the observations is about 250–500 m when permitted by instrument sampling. In this paper we present first results for three transfer flights of the campaign. Being generally in good agreement with corresponding ECMWF operational analyzes, the CRISTA-NF measurements show significantly higher variability and local structures in the upper tropospheric water vapor distributions.     

CHAMP和GRACE-A/B反演大气密度数据评估分析

利用Colorado大学公开发布的2001-2008年CHAMP和GRACE-A/B三颗卫星加速度计反演的400km高度上的大气密度数据,以大气模式NLRMSISE-00为参考,分析反演数据与模式值的误差特点、产生误差的原因、密度的变化及合理性,并通过卫星轨道两行根数（TLE）的反演结果进行验证,主要结论如下.CHAMP密度值整体稍高于GRACE-A/B,CHAMP密度与模式值之间的误差整体小于GRACE-A/B,2007-2008年 GRACE-A/B与模式的相对误差变化起伏较大.2001年CHAMP与模式存在整体偏差,通过相似空间环境条件下的密度变化比对以及利用TLE的反演结果验证,确定2001年的CHAMP反演密度整体偏低.CHAMP及GRACE-A/B密度变化个例显示,卫星密度值会出现一些个性化特征,使用时应根据需求进行分析处理.研究结果可为合理应用该数据提供参考.      

Aerosol observations for climate studies

The SAM II and SAGE satellite systems have provided to date more than 5 years and almost 3 years, respectively, of data on atmospheric aerosol profiles on a near-global scale. Studies with these unique data sets are developing a global aerosol climatology for the first time and have shown the existence and quantification of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC's) and tropical stratospheric cirrus. In addition, a tropospheric cirrus climatology is evolving. Since these two experiments were launched, a series of large volcanic eruptions have occurred which have greatly impacted the stratospheric aerosol loading. The aerosol layer produced by the eruption of El Chichon, for example, increased the 30 mb temperatures in the northern tropics by as much as 4°C for 6 months after the eruption. This paper will describe in detail, from a climate perspective, the evolving aerosol and cloud climatologies as a function of space and time, and show the stratospheric dynamics of volcanic injections and their enhancements on stratospheric optical depth and mass loading.     

A comparative and numerical study of effects of gravity waves in small miss-distance and miss-time GPS radio occultation temperature profiles

The Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO) technique has global coverage and is capable of generating high vertical resolution temperature profiles of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere with sub-Kelvin accuracy and long-term stability, regardless of weather conditions. In this work, we take advantage of the anomalously high density of occultation events at the eastern side of the highest Andes Mountains during the initial mission months of COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate). This region is well-known for its high wave activity. We choose to study two pairs of GPS RO, both containing two occultations that occurred close in time and space. One pair shows significant differences between both temperature profiles. Numerical simulations with a mesoscale model were performed, in order to understand this discrepancy. It is attributed to the presence of a horizontal inhomogeneous structure caused by gravity waves.     

First evidence of anisotropy of GPS phase slips caused by the mid-latitude field-aligned ionospheric irregularities

The mid-latitude field-aligned irregularity (FAI) along the magnetic field line is a common phenomenon in the ionosphere. However, few data reveal the field-aligned ionospheric irregularities. They are insufficient to identify FAIs effects so far, particularly effect on global positioning system (GPS) signals. In this paper, the mid-latitude FAIs by line-of-sight angular scanning relative to the local magnetic field vector are investigated using the denser GPS network observations in Japan. It has been the first found that total GPS L2 phase slips over Japan, during the recovery phase of the 12 Feb 2000 geomagnetic storm were caused by GPS signal scattering on FAIs both for the lines-of-sight aligned to the magnetic field line (the field of aligned scattering, FALS) and across the magnetic field line (the field of across scattering, FACS). The FALS results are also in a good agreement with the data of the magnetic field orientation control of GPS occultation observations of equatorial scintillation during thorough low earth orbit (LEO) satellites measurements, e.g. Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) and Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C (SAC-C). The role of large-angle scattering almost along the normal to the magnetic field line in GPS scintillation is determined by attenuation of the irregularity anisotropy factor as compared with the other factors.     

A gravity wave analysis near to the Andes Range from GPS radio occultation data and mesoscale numerical simulations: Two case studies

Global maps of potential wave energy per unit mass, recently performed with the Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO) technique and different satellite missions (CHAMP and SAC-C since 2001, GRACE and COSMIC since 2006) revealed in Argentina, at the eastern side of the highest Andes Mountains, a considerable wave activity (WA) in comparison with other extra-tropical regions. The main gravity wave (GW) sources in this natural laboratory are deep convection (mainly during late Spring and Summer), topographic forcing and geostrophic adjustment.     

利用COSMIC数据分析全球对流层顶温度和高度的变化特性

利用COSMIC卫星无线电掩星观测的温度数据分析了全球范围的对流层顶参量的变化特性.COSMIC多颗卫星连续观测的温度数据有很好的全球覆盖和很好的垂直分辨率,是分析全球范围对流层顶变化的重要探测数据.经过数据筛选,得到日平均温度的全年分布数据.采用大气温度递减率判据得到对流层顼温度和对流层顶高度的全球分布和变化.结果表明,全球范国内的对流层顶温度和对流层顶高度分布的基本结果与利用无线电探空资料和欧洲气象局再分析数据得到的结果基本一致;对流层项温度和对流层顶高度呈现明显的季节变化,赤道附近和中纬度地区的对流层顶高度变化与高纬地区的对流层顶高度变化出现反相:对流层顶温度和高度的变化呈现明显的南北半球不对称性.