Premium
Observing tropospheric water vapor by radio occultation using the Global Positioning System
Author(s) -
Kursinski E. R.,
Hajj G. A.,
Hardy K. R.,
Romans L. J.,
Schofield J. T.
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1029/95gl02127
Subject(s) - radio occultation , troposphere , water vapor , environmental science , occultation , atmosphere (unit) , global positioning system , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , remote sensing , geology , geography , physics , computer science , astronomy , telecommunications
Given the importance of water vapor to weather, climate and hydrology, global humidity observations from satellites are critical. At low latitudes, radio occultation observations of Earth's atmosphere using the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites allow water vapor profiles to be retrieved with accuracies of 10 to 20% below 6 to 7 km altitude and ∼5% or better within the boundary layer. GPS observations provide a unique combination of accuracy, vertical resolution (≤ 1 km) and insensitivity to cloud and aerosol particles that is well suited to observations of the lower troposphere. These characteristics combined with the inherent stability of radio occultation observations make it an excellent candidate for the measurement of long term trends.