Effects of horizontal gradients on GPS radio occultation observation operators. I: Ray tracing

2004 ◽  
Vol 130 (603) ◽  
pp. 2787-2805 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Poli ◽  
J. Joiner
2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 853-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-Ya Chen ◽  
Ching-Yuang Huang ◽  
Ying-Hwa Kuo ◽  
Sergey Sokolovskiy

Abstract The Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) technique is becoming a robust global observing system. GPS RO refractivity is typically modeled at the ray perigee point by a “local refractivity operator” in a data assimilation system. Such modeling does not take into account the horizontal gradients that affect the GPS RO refractivity. A new observable (linear excess phase), defined as an integral of the refractivity along some fixed ray path within the model domain, has been developed in earlier studies to account for the effect of horizontal gradients. In this study, the error statistics of both observables (refractivity and linear excess phase) are estimated using the GPS RO data from the Formosa Satellite 3–Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC) mission. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) method, which is based on lagged forecast differences, is applied for evaluation of the model forecast errors that are used for estimation of the GPS RO observational errors. Also used are Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model forecasts in the East Asia region at 45-km resolution for one winter month (mid-January to mid-February) and one summer month (mid-August to mid-September) in 2007. Fractional standard deviations of the observational errors of refractivity and linear excess phase both show an approximately linear decrease with height in the troposphere and a slight increase above the tropopause; their maximum magnitude is about 2.2% (2.5%) for refractivity and 1.1% (1.3%) for linear excess phase in the lowest 2 km for the winter (summer) month. An increase of both fractional observational errors near the surface in the summer month is attributed mainly to a larger amount of water vapor. The results indicate that the fractional observational error of refractivity is about twice as large as that of linear excess phase, regardless of season. The observational errors of both linear excess phase and refractivity are much less latitude dependent for summer than for winter. This difference is attributed to larger latitudinal variations of the specific humidity in winter.


Author(s):  
R. Norman ◽  
J. Le Marshall ◽  
K. Zhang ◽  
C. S. Wang ◽  
B. A. Carter ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Hao Yeh ◽  
Cheng-Yung Huang ◽  
Tsen-Chieh Chiu ◽  
Ming-Quey Chen ◽  
Jann-Yenq Liu ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 919 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
N.H. Javadov ◽  
R.A. Eminov ◽  
N.Ya. Ismailov

The matters of optimum forecasting atmospheric temperature using GPS radio occultation measurements are considered. The analysis of the available data regarding to the comparison of temperature measurements using radio occultation method and radiosondes was made. As a result it was concluded that the mean value of those results’ difference and also the mean quadratic deviation of these difference increases in common by increase of the forecasting time. In order to prevent surplus loading of telemetry channels and broadcasting inaccurate forecast values via them the optimization of general procedure of radio occultation temperature measurements are carried out using fine functions method. For optimization the concurrent parameters, changing on antiphase order are determined. It is found out that utilization of fine function method taking into account the applied optimization criterion and some limitation conditions make it possible to optimize the whole procedure of forecasting atmospheric temperature using the GPS radio occultation measurements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Xu Xu ◽  
Xiaolei Zou

Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) and radiosonde (RS) observations are two major types of observations assimilated in numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. Observation error variances are required input that determines the weightings given to observations in data assimilation. This study estimates the error variances of global GPS RO refractivity and bending angle and RS temperature and humidity observations at 521 selected RS stations using the three-cornered hat method with additional ERA-Interim reanalysis and Global Forecast System forecast data available from 1 January 2016 to 31 August 2019. The global distributions, of both RO and RS observation error variances, are analyzed in terms of vertical and latitudinal variations. Error variances of RO refractivity and bending angle and RS specific humidity in the lower troposphere, such as at 850 hPa (3.5 km impact height for the bending angle), all increase with decreasing latitude. The error variances of RO refractivity and bending angle and RS specific humidity can reach about 30 N-unit2, 3 × 10−6 rad2, and 2 (g kg−1)2, respectively. There is also a good symmetry of the error variances of both RO refractivity and bending angle with respect to the equator between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at all vertical levels. In this study, we provide the mean error variances of refractivity and bending angle in every 5°-latitude band between the equator and 60°N, as well as every interval of 10 hPa pressure or 0.2 km impact height. The RS temperature error variance distribution differs from those of refractivity, bending angle, and humidity, which, at low latitudes, are smaller (less than 1 K2) than those in the midlatitudes (more than 3 K2). In the midlatitudes, the RS temperature error variances in North America are larger than those in East Asia and Europe, which may arise from different radiosonde types among the above three regions.


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