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Direct estimation of absolute precipitable water in oceanic regions by GPS tracking of a coastal buoy
Author(s) -
Chadwell C. David,
Bock Yehuda
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013280
Subject(s) - buoy , global positioning system , radiosonde , satellite , remote sensing , meteorology , environmental science , geodesy , precipitable water , tide gauge , geology , geography , sea level , water vapor , oceanography , computer science , telecommunications , aerospace engineering , engineering
A buoy‐based GPS receiver and meteorological sensor are used to estimate directly the absolute precipitable water (PW) overlying a coastal ocean site 8 km from shore. During an 11‐day experiment, one‐second GPS data collected at the buoy and at a shore station are combined with 30‐second data from four distant GPS stations to estimate the buoy position, zenith wet delay, phase biases, and receiver and satellite clocks using double‐differenced phase processing with ambiguity resolution. GPS‐derived PW at the buoy compared to radiosonde measurements (20) and to half‐hourly GPS‐PW values (384) from the nearby shore station show an rms agreement of ±1.5 mm and ±1.8 mm, respectively. Hourly means (170) of the GPS‐measured vertical motion of the buoy show a ±24 mm rms agreement with a NOAA tide gauge, equivalent to about 4 mm of PW. GPS‐derived PW from buoys may have the potential to improve weather forecasting, calibration of satellite‐based sensors, and climate studies.

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