Comparison of the wet component of zenith tropospheric delay derived from GNSS observations with corresponding value from radio soundings

2015;
: pp. 16-24
https://doi.org/10.23939/istcgcap2015.01.016
Received: November 07, 2015
1
Lviv Polytechnic National University
2
Department of Higher geodesy and astronomy of Lviv Polytechnic National University

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an accuracy of the wet component of zenith tropospheric delay obtained by the data of six GNSS stations in comparison with radio sounding data. The determination of hydrostatic and wet components of zenith tropospheric delay was divided into several stages. In the first phase, with an appropriate site for data center processing GNNS-measurements averaged values of zenith tropospheric delay were selected. In the second step, using an analytical model of Saastamoinen, a hydrostatic component was calculated, with precisely measured (at the height of the antenna) value of atmospheric pressure. The third phase a wet component was determined as the difference between zenith tropospheric delay, derived from GNNS measurements and its hydrostatic component. The advantages of this approach in determining the tropospheric delay in comparison with other methods is continuity of GNNS observations and their independence of weather conditions. The obtained values were compared with the corresponding values determined according to the radio soundings, which were taken in this study as controls. As a result of processing of 120 vertical profiles of radio soundings, at six aerological stations and by the data from six GNSS stations the value of hydrostatic and wet component of zenith tropospheric delay was calculated for middle ten day period of January and July 2011 and 2013. Radio soundings data worked for two years, so a fairly lengthy and massive material is allowed to refine and evaluate reliable primarily the nature of the values of the hydrostatic component of tropospheric delay so as exactness of its determination directly will influence on exactness of establishment of moist component. In consequence of our calculations, the difference hydrostatic and wet components of the tropospheric zenith delays were obtained and their accuracy was assessed. These results serve as a basis for further improving of the accuracy of the wet component of GNSS-measurements, in particular, to determine the spatial and temporal changes and precipitable water vapor content in the atmosphere in the region, which is important for weather forecasting.

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