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GNSS Remote Sensing of the Environment

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Environmental Monitoring using GNSS

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering ((ENVSCIENCE))

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Abstract

GNSS satellites such as GPS are playing an increasingly crucial role in tracking low earth orbiting (LEO) remote sensing satellites at altitudes below 3000 km with accuracies of better than 10 cm (Yunck et al. 1990). These remote sensing satellites employ a precise global network of GNSS ground receivers operating in concert with receivers onboard the LEO satellites, with all estimating the satellites’ orbits, GPS orbits, and selected ground locations simultaneously (Yunck et al. 1990). In this chapter, we illustrate the role played by GNSS satellites in measuring changes in the Earth’s atmosphere, its gravity field, and surfaces (e.g., ice layer density). These changes are found by measuring refractivity , inter-satellite distances, and reflected signals (i.e., multipath), respectively.

GNSS data provide the opportunity to observe Earth system processes with greater accuracy and detail, as they occur. W.C. Hammond et al. (2011).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.gdgps.net/applications/index.html

  2. 2.

    total electronic contents.

  3. 3.

    via http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu.

  4. 4.

    via http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu

  5. 5.

    via http://www.tacc.cwb.gov.tw.

  6. 6.

    see, e.g., http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMV3FO4KKF_Germany_0.html.

  7. 7.

    http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/publications/brochure/page11.html

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya

    Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joseph L. Awange (Professor of Environment and Earth Sciences)

  2. Curtin University, Perth, Australia

    Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joseph L. Awange (Professor of Environment and Earth Sciences)

  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joseph L. Awange (Professor of Environment and Earth Sciences)

  4. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joseph L. Awange (Professor of Environment and Earth Sciences)

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Awange, J.L. (2012). GNSS Remote Sensing of the Environment. In: Environmental Monitoring using GNSS. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88256-5_9

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