Abstract
This paper presents a novel approach for assessing the precision of the wet refractivity field using BDS (BeiDou navigation satellite system) simulations only, GPS, and BDS+GPS for the Shenzhen and Hongkong GNSS network. The simulations are carried out by adding artificial noise to a real observation dataset. Instead of using the d and s parameters computed from slant wet delay, as in previous studies, we employ the Bias and RMS parameters, computed from the tomography results of total voxels, in order to obtain a more direct and comprehensive evaluation of the precision of the refractivity field determination. The results show that: (1) the precision of tropospheric wet refractivity estimated using BDS alone (only 9 satellites used) is basically comparable to that of GPS; (2) BDS+GPS (as of current operation) may not be able to significantly improve the data’s spatial density for the application of refractivity tomography; and (3) any slight increase in the precision of refractivity tomography, particularly in the lower atmosphere, bears great significance for any applications dependent on the Chinese operational meteorological service.
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Wang, X., Wang, X., Dai, Z. et al. Tropospheric wet refractivity tomography based on the BeiDou satellite system. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 31, 355–362 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-013-2311-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-013-2311-0