Numerical simulation of troposphere-induced errors in GPS-derived geodetic time series over Japan

Abstract

Troposphere-induced errors in GPS-derived geodetic time series, namely, height and zenith total delays (ZTDs), over Japan are quantitatively evaluated through the analyses of simulated GPS data using realistic cumulative tropospheric delays and observed GPS data. The numerical simulations show that the use of a priori zenith hydrostatic delays (ZHDs) derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) numerical weather model data and gridded Vienna mapping function 1 (gridded VMF1) results in smaller spurious annual height errors and height repeatabilities (0.45 and 2.55 mm on average, respectively) as compared to those derived from the global pressure and temperature (GPT) model and global mapping function (GMF) (1.08 and 3.22 mm on average, respectively). On the other hand, the use of a priori ZHDs derived from the GPT and GMF would be sufficient for applications involving ZTDs, given the current discrepancies between GPS-derived ZTDs and those derived from numerical weather models. The numerical simulations reveal that the use of mapping functions constructed with fine-scale numerical weather models will potentially improve height repeatabilities as compared to the gridded VMF1 (2.09 mm against 2.55 mm on average). However, they do not presently outperform the gridded VMF1 with the observed GPS data (6.52 mm against 6.50 mm on average). Finally, the commonly observed colored components in GPS-derived height time series are not primarily the result of troposphere-induced errors, since they become white in numerical simulations with the proper choice of a priori ZHDs and mapping functions.