Open AccessGNSS Radio Occultation Constellation Observing System Experiments
Author(s) -
Péter Bauer,
Gábor Radnóti,
S. B. Healy,
Carla Cardinali
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
monthly weather review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.862
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1520-0493
pISSN - 0027-0644
DOI - 10.1175/mwr-d-13-00130.1
Subject(s) - radio occultation , radiosonde , occultation , troposphere , stratosphere , environmental science , gnss applications , radiance , data assimilation , zenith , remote sensing , meteorology , satellite , ionosphere , geology , physics , astronomy , geophysics
Observing system experiments within the operational ECMWF data assimilation framework have been performed for summer 2008 when the largest recorded number of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation observations from both operational and experimental satellites were available. Constellations with 0%, 5%, 33%, 67%, and 100% data volume were assimilated to quantify the sensitivity of analysis and forecast quality to radio occultation data volume. These observations mostly constrain upper-tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures and correct an apparent model bias that changes sign across the upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere boundary. This correction effect does not saturate with increasing data volume, even if more data are assimilated than available in today’s analyses. Another important function of radio occultation data, namely, the anchoring of variational radiance bias corrections, is demonstrated in this study. This effect also does not saturate with increasing data volume. In the stratosphere, the anchoring by radio occultation data is stronger than provided by radiosonde and aircraft observations.