A Novel Approach for the Determination of the Height of the Tropopause from Ground-Based GNSS Observations

Mendez Astudillo, Jorge; Lau, Lawrence; Tang, Yu-Ting; Moore, Terry

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new method to calculate the height of the second lapse-rate tropopause (LRT2) using GNSS high-precision data. The use of GNSS data for monitoring the atmosphere is possible because as the radio signals propagate through the troposphere, they are delayed according to the refractive index of the path of the signal. We show that by integrating the vertical profile of the refractive index in the troposphere, we are able to determine the altitude of LTR2. Furthermore, as GNSS data is available from many stations around all latitudes of the globe and make up a network with high spatial and temporal resolution, we can monitor the diurnal cycle of the variables related to the refractive index of the path of the signal. A comparison between the heights of the LRT2 obtained with radiosonde data and with this novel method is presented in the paper, and it shows good agreement. The average difference found is ≤1 km for stations between the latitudes of 30°S and 30°N.

Citation

Mendez Astudillo, J., Lau, L., Tang, Y., & Moore, T. (2020). A Novel Approach for the Determination of the Height of the Tropopause from Ground-Based GNSS Observations. Remote Sensing, 12(2), https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020293

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 12, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jan 16, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 16, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jan 16, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 16, 2020
• Journal: Remote Sensing
• Electronic ISSN: 2072-4292
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 293
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020293
• Keywords: Lapse Rate Troposphere (LRT); Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD); GNSS atmospheric monitoring
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3737160
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/2/293