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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • GPS radio occultation
  • precision
  • collocated soundings

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Processes: Remote sensing
  • Atmospheric Processes: Instruments and techniques
  • Radio Science: Remote sensing
  • Radio Science: Instruments and techniques

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L04808, 5 PP., 2007
doi:10.1029/2006GL027557

Estimates of the precision of GPS radio occultations from the COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 mission

W. Schreiner

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

C. Rocken

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

S. Sokolovskiy

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

S. Syndergaard

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

D. Hunt

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC)/Formosa Satellite 3 (FORMOSAT-3) is a six-satellite radio occultation mission that was launched in mid-April, 2006. The close proximity of the COSMIC satellites provides a unique opportunity to estimate the precision of the radio occultation remote sensing technique from closely collocated occultations (<10 km separation of tangent points). The RMS difference of refractivity between 10 and 20 km altitude is less than 0.2%, which is approximately twice better than previous estimates obtained from CHAMP and SAC-C collocated occultations, apparently, due to smaller separation of the occultation pairs and due to parallel occultation planes. In the lower troposphere, the maximal RMS is ∼0.8% at 2 km altitude and decreases abruptly to ∼0.2% between 6 and 8 km altitude. The RMS difference of electron density in the ionosphere between 150 and 500 km altitude for collocated occultations is about 103 cm−3.

Received 12 July 2006; accepted 18 January 2007; published 23 February 2007.

Citation: Schreiner, W., C. Rocken, S. Sokolovskiy, S. Syndergaard, and D. Hunt (2007), Estimates of the precision of GPS radio occultations from the COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 mission, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L04808, doi:10.1029/2006GL027557.

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