4D wet refractivity estimation in the atmosphere using GNSS tomography initialized by radiosonde and AIRS measurements: results from a 1-week intensive campaign

A Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) tomography system is implemented in the Lisbon area, Portugal, to estimate the water vapor dynamics at a local scale. A field experiment was carried out, in which a series of temporary GNSS stations were installed, increasing the network from 9 permanent stations to a total of 17 GNSS stations. A radiosonde campaign was also performed with high sampling launches, at 4-h intervals, for 1 week. A time series of hourly 3D wet refractivity solutions were obtained during the radiosonde campaign. Radiosonde and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) measurements were used to compute wet refractivity profiles to initialize and update the tomography solutions. The dependence of the GNSS tomography solution on the initial conditions obtained from both radiosonde and AIRS measurements, and their updating frequencies are studied. It is found that the GNSS tomography continuous measurement of the atmospheric refractivity provides solutions with an RMS mean of about 2 g/m3.

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