scholarly journals Decadal variations in atmospheric water vapor time series estimated using ground-based GNSS

Author(s):  
Fadwa Alshawaf ◽  
Galina Dick ◽  
Stefan Heise ◽  
Tzvetan Simeonov ◽  
Sibylle Vey ◽  
...  

Abstract. Ground-based GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) have efficiently been used since the 1990s as a meteorological observing system. Recently scientists used GNSS time series of precipitable water vapor (PWV) for climate research. In this work, we use time series from GNSS, European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis (ERA-Interim) data, and meteorological measurements to evaluate climate evolution in Central Europe. The assessment of climate change requires monitoring of different atmospheric variables such as temperature, PWV, precipitation, and snow cover. PWV time series were obtained by three methods: 1) estimated from ground-based GNSS observations using the method of precise point positioning, 2) inferred from ERA-Interim data, and 3) determined based on daily surface measurements of temperature and relative humidity. The other variables are available from surface meteorological stations or received from ERA-Interim. The PWV trend component estimated from GNSS data strongly correlates with that estimated from the other data sets. The linear trend is estimated by straight line fitting over 30 years of seasonally-adjusted PWV time series obtained using meteorological measurements. The results show a positive trend in the PWV time series at more than 60 GNSS sites with an increase of 0.3–0.6 mm/decade. In this paper, we compare the results of three stations. The temporal increment of the PWV correlates with the temporal increase in the temperature levels.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhilu Wu ◽  
Yanxiong Liu ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Jungang Wang ◽  
Xiufeng He ◽  
...  

Abstract. The calibration microwave radiometer (CMR) onboard Haiyang-2A satellite provides wet tropospheric delays correction for altimetry data, which can also contribute to the understanding of climate system and weather processes. Ground-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide precise PWV with high temporal resolution and could be used for calibration and monitoring of the CMR data, and shipborne GNSS provides accurate PWV over open oceans, which can be directly compared with uncontaminated CMR data. In this study, the HY-2A CMR water vapor product is validated using ground-based GNSS observations of 100 IGS stations along the coastline and 56-day shipborne GNSS observations over the Indian Ocean. The processing strategy for GNSS data and CMR data is discussed in detail. Special efforts were made to the quality control and reconstruction of contaminated CMR data. The validation result shows that HY-2A CMR PWV agrees well with ground-based GNSS PWV with 2.67 mm in RMS within 100 km. Geographically, the RMS is 1.12 mm in the polar region and 2.78 mm elsewhere. The PWV agreement between HY-2A and shipborne GNSS shows a significant correlation with the distance between the ship and the satellite footprint, with an RMS of 1.57 mm for the distance threshold of 100 km. Ground-based GNSS and shipborne GNSS agree with HY-2A CMR well with no obvious system error.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadwa Alshawaf ◽  
Kyriakos Balidakis ◽  
Galina Dick ◽  
Stefan Heise ◽  
Jens Wickert

Abstract. Ground-based GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) have efficiently been used since the 1990s as a meteorological observing system. Recently scientists used GNSS time series of precipitable water vapor (PWV) for climate research. In this work, we compare the temporal trends estimated from GNSS time series with those estimated from European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis (ERA-Interim) data and meteorological measurements. We aim at evaluating climate evolution in Germany by monitoring different atmospheric variables such as temperature and PWV. PWV time series were obtained by three methods: 1) estimated from ground-based GNSS observations using the method of precise point positioning, 2) inferred from ERA-Interim reanalysis data, and 3) determined based on daily in situ measurements of temperature and relative humidity. The other relevant atmospheric parameters are available from surface measurements of meteorological stations or derived from ERA-Interim. The trends are estimated using two methods, the first applies least squares to seasonally-adjusted time series and the second using the Theil-Sen estimator. The trends estimated at 113 GNSS sites, with 10 and 19 year temporal coverage, varies between −1.5 and 2 mm/decade with standard deviations below 0.25 mm/decade. These values depend on the length and the variations of the time series. Therefore, we estimated the PWV trends using ERA-Interim and surface measurements spanning from 1991 to 2016 (26 years) at synoptic 227 stations over Germany. The former shows positive PWV trends below 0.5 mm/decade while the latter shows positive trends below 0.9 mm/decade with standard deviations below 0.03 mm/decade. The estimated PWV trends correlate with the temperature trends.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabila Putri ◽  
Johannes Boehm ◽  
Dudy D. Wijaya ◽  
Wedyanto Kuntjoro ◽  
Zamzam Tanuwijaya ◽  
...  

<p>The mean temperature weighted with water vapor pressure (Tm) is an important parameter to obtain precipitable water vapor (PWV) from the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) observations. This study investigates the possible impacts of equatorial troposphere on Tm estimates and its relation with surface temperature Ts. We calculated Tm in Indonesia from a Numerical Weather Model at nine InaCORS sites. We used 3-hourly ERA5 pressure, temperature, and humidity profiles for the year 2019. We found that Tm and surface temperature Ts in Indonesia have low correlation, less than 0.4. Seasonal and site-specific Tm-Ts relationships have slightly higher correlation, although the values can vary significantly. The highest correlation of around 0.7 is found at site CPUT in Kalimantan. We calculated Tm at nine additional stations in Kalimantan and found that stations located farther from the coast tend to have higher correlation, independent of the seasons. This suggests that Tm is also influenced by the vicinity to the coast. Based on our findings, the use of a general Tm-Ts relationship in Indonesia may not be appropriate. Further studies are necessary to develop an improved Tm over Indonesian region.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 2443-2456 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ning ◽  
J. Wickert ◽  
Z. Deng ◽  
S. Heise ◽  
G. Dick ◽  
...  

Abstract The potential temporal shifts in the integrated water vapor (IWV) time series obtained from reprocessed data acquired from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) were comprehensively investigated. A statistical test, the penalized maximal t test modified to account for first-order autoregressive noise in time series (PMTred), was used to identify the possible mean shifts (changepoints) in the time series of the difference between the GPS IWV and the IWV obtained from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) interim reanalysis (ERA-Interim) data. The approach allows for identification of the changepoints not only in the GPS IWV time series but also in ERA-Interim. The IWV difference time series formed for 101 GPS sites were tested, where 47 of them were found to contain in total 62 changepoints. The results indicate that 45 detected changepoints were due to the inconsistencies in the GPS IWV time series, and 16 were related to ERA-Interim, while one point was left unverified. After the correction of the mean shifts for the GPS data, an improved consistency in the IWV trends is evident between nearby sites, while a better agreement is seen between the trends from the GPS and ERA-Interim data on a global scale. In addition, the IWV trends estimated for 47 GPS sites were compared to the corresponding IWV trends obtained from nearby homogenized radiosonde data. The correlation coefficient of the trends increases significantly by 38% after using the homogenized GPS data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 1509-1535
Author(s):  
Tayná Aparecida Ferreira Gouveia ◽  
João Francisco Galera Monico ◽  
Daniele Barroca Marra Alves ◽  
Luiz Fernando Sapucci ◽  
Felipe Geremia Nievinski

A atmosfera neutra (ou troposfera) causa refração nos sinais de radiofrequência, que resulta em erros nas medidas do Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) empregadas no posicionamento geodésico. Já para a Meteorologia esse efeito pode representar medidas importantes da concentração dos constituintes atmosféricos, principalmente em regiões onde não se pode realizar sondagem atmosférica convencional, por meio de radiossondas acopladas a balões. Duas técnicas GNSS podem ser empregadas para isso. A primeira utiliza receptores em estações terrestres que fornecem estimativas do conteúdo integrado verticalmente de umidade na atmosfera neutra (Precipitable Water Vapor - PWV). A segunda, com receptores localizados em plataformas espaciais, com os quais obtém perfis atmosféricos de pressão, temperatura e umidade, na técnica conhecida como Rádio-ocultação GNSS. Essas medidas têm um potencial significativo para aplicações em previsões de curtíssimo prazo (30 minutos) de eventos extremos de precipitação (>35 mm). O objetivo principal deste artigo é realizar uma revisão do estado da arte da sinergia entre a Geodésia e a Meteorologia na modelagem da atmosfera neutra (neutrosfera), seu efeito no posicionamento GNSS e na estimativa dos constituintes atmosféricos e suas aplicações. Além disso, apresenta os aprimoramentos e novos desafios desenvolvidos na modelagem do atraso para o posicionamento de alta acurácia.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3117-3132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadwa Alshawaf ◽  
Kyriakos Balidakis ◽  
Galina Dick ◽  
Stefan Heise ◽  
Jens Wickert

Abstract. Ground-based GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) has efficiently been used since the 1990s as a meteorological observing system. Recently scientists have used GNSS time series of precipitable water vapor (PWV) for climate research. In this work, we compare the temporal trends estimated from GNSS time series with those estimated from European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis (ERA-Interim) data and meteorological measurements. We aim to evaluate climate evolution in Germany by monitoring different atmospheric variables such as temperature and PWV. PWV time series were obtained by three methods: (1) estimated from ground-based GNSS observations using the method of precise point positioning, (2) inferred from ERA-Interim reanalysis data, and (3) determined based on daily in situ measurements of temperature and relative humidity. The other relevant atmospheric parameters are available from surface measurements of meteorological stations or derived from ERA-Interim. The trends are estimated using two methods: the first applies least squares to deseasonalized time series and the second uses the Theil–Sen estimator. The trends estimated at 113 GNSS sites, with 10 to 19 years temporal coverage, vary between −1.5 and 2.3 mm decade−1 with standard deviations below 0.25 mm decade−1. These results were validated by estimating the trends from ERA-Interim data over the same time windows, which show similar values. These values of the trend depend on the length and the variations of the time series. Therefore, to give a mean value of the PWV trend over Germany, we estimated the trends using ERA-Interim spanning from 1991 to 2016 (26 years) at 227 synoptic stations over Germany. The ERA-Interim data show positive PWV trends of 0.33 ± 0.06 mm decade−1 with standard errors below 0.03 mm decade−1. The increment in PWV varies between 4.5 and 6.5 % per degree Celsius rise in temperature, which is comparable to the theoretical rate of the Clausius–Clapeyron equation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Isabel Fernández ◽  
Amalia Margarita Meza ◽  
María Paula Natali ◽  
Clara Eugenia Bianchi

Abstract. We compared and analyzed data of vertically Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) from two different re-analysis models (ERA-Interim from ECMWF and MERRA-2 from NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office) with respect to IWV values from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) at 53 stations of Central and South America during the 7-year period from January 2007 till December 2013. The comparison was performed taking into account the geopotential height differences between each GNSS station and the correspondent values assigned by the models. Thus, the set of GNSS stations was divided into 3 groups: Small, Large and Critical height difference stations. Moreover, the performance of the re-analysis models was also analyzed by using an additional classification of three levels according to the mean IWV (IWV) value expected at the station: IWV > 30 kg m−2, 12 kg m−2 ⩽ IWV ⩽ 30 kg m−2 and IWV 


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 3511-3522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Ding ◽  
Shubi Zhang ◽  
Suqin Wu ◽  
Xiaoming Wang ◽  
Allison Kealy ◽  
...  

Abstract. The determination of the distribution of water vapor in the atmosphere plays an important role in the atmospheric monitoring. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tomography can be used to construct 3-D distribution of water vapor over the field covered by a GNSS network with high temporal and spatial resolutions. In current tomographic approaches, a pre-set fixed rectangular field that roughly covers the area of the distribution of the GNSS signals on the top plane of the tomographic field is commonly used for all tomographic epochs. Due to too many unknown parameters needing to be estimated, the accuracy of the tomographic solution degrades. Another issue of these approaches is their unsuitability for GNSS networks with a low number of stations, as the shape of the field covered by the GNSS signals is, in fact, roughly that of an upside-down cone rather than the rectangular cube as the pre-set. In this study, a new approach for determination of tomographic fields fitting the real distribution of GNSS signals on different tomographic planes at different tomographic epochs and also for discretization of the tomographic fields based on the perimeter of the tomographic boundary on the plane and meshing techniques is proposed. The new approach was tested using three stations from the Hong Kong GNSS network and validated by comparing the tomographic results against radiosonde data from King's Park Meteorological Station (HKKP) during the one month period of May 2015. Results indicated that the new approach is feasible for a three-station GNSS network tomography. This is significant due to the fact that the conventional approaches cannot even solve a network tomography from a few stations.


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