THE DETERMINATION OF ATMOSPHERIC WATER CONTENT FROM METEOROLOGICAL AND GPS DATA

Abstract

The Global Positioning System (GPS) based on satellites and the networks of dual frequency receivers are actively used for geodetic and geophysical applications, as well as for studying the ionosphere and troposphere. The atmospheric water content is in the focus of research as a key parameter for determining of the accuracy of weather forecasting and hydrological monitoring. The precision of atmospheric water content calculations depends on the accuracy of determination of the delays of signals propagating from GPS satellites to ground-based GPS receivers when geodynamic measurements are conducted. This paper describes a technique that allows us to estimate the integrated water vapor (IWV) in the atmosphere from measurements of GPS satellite signal delays. We consider remote sensing of the lower atmosphere by GPS measurements to detect the water vapor content in the conventional vertical column to the top level of the troposphere (up to 12 km above the Earth's surface). In studies of the propagation of signals from GPS satellites to ground receivers, the atmospheric water vapor is taken into account as a ‘wet’ component (ZWD) of the zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD). ZTD is the sum of ZHD (hydrostatic or ‘dry’ delay) and ZWD (‘wet’ delay). ZWD values can be converted with a very high confidence in integrated water vapor (IWV) values for each installed GPS receiver.