A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations
In this paper, we present a new method to calculate the height of the second lapse-rate tropopause (LRT2) using GNSS high-precision data. The use of GNSS data for monitoring the atmosphere is possible because as the radio signals propagate through the troposphere, they are delayed according to the r...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI
2020
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60013/ |
| _version_ | 1848799711135268864 |
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| author | Mendez Astudillo, Jorge Lau, Lawrence Tang, Yu-Ting Moore, Terry |
| author_facet | Mendez Astudillo, Jorge Lau, Lawrence Tang, Yu-Ting Moore, Terry |
| author_sort | Mendez Astudillo, Jorge |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In this paper, we present a new method to calculate the height of the second lapse-rate tropopause (LRT2) using GNSS high-precision data. The use of GNSS data for monitoring the atmosphere is possible because as the radio signals propagate through the troposphere, they are delayed according to the refractive index of the path of the signal. We show that by integrating the vertical profile of the refractive index in the troposphere, we are able to determine the altitude of LTR2. Furthermore, as GNSS data is available from many stations around all latitudes of the globe and make up a network with high spatial and temporal resolution, we can monitor the diurnal cycle of the variables related to the refractive index of the path of the signal. A comparison between the heights of the LRT2 obtained with radiosonde data and with this novel method is presented in the paper, and it shows good agreement. The average difference found is ≤1 km for stations between the latitudes of 30°S and 30°N. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:40:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-60013 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:40:00Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-600132020-02-28T03:01:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60013/ A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations Mendez Astudillo, Jorge Lau, Lawrence Tang, Yu-Ting Moore, Terry In this paper, we present a new method to calculate the height of the second lapse-rate tropopause (LRT2) using GNSS high-precision data. The use of GNSS data for monitoring the atmosphere is possible because as the radio signals propagate through the troposphere, they are delayed according to the refractive index of the path of the signal. We show that by integrating the vertical profile of the refractive index in the troposphere, we are able to determine the altitude of LTR2. Furthermore, as GNSS data is available from many stations around all latitudes of the globe and make up a network with high spatial and temporal resolution, we can monitor the diurnal cycle of the variables related to the refractive index of the path of the signal. A comparison between the heights of the LRT2 obtained with radiosonde data and with this novel method is presented in the paper, and it shows good agreement. The average difference found is ≤1 km for stations between the latitudes of 30°S and 30°N. MDPI 2020-01-16 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60013/1/remotesensing-12-00293.pdf Mendez Astudillo, Jorge, Lau, Lawrence, Tang, Yu-Ting and Moore, Terry (2020) A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations. Remote Sensing, 12 (2). p. 293. ISSN 2072-4292 Lapse Rate Troposphere (LRT); Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD); GNSS atmospheric monitoring https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020293 doi:10.3390/rs12020293 doi:10.3390/rs12020293 |
| spellingShingle | Lapse Rate Troposphere (LRT); Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD); GNSS atmospheric monitoring Mendez Astudillo, Jorge Lau, Lawrence Tang, Yu-Ting Moore, Terry A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations |
| title | A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations |
| title_full | A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations |
| title_fullStr | A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations |
| title_full_unstemmed | A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations |
| title_short | A novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based GNSS observations |
| title_sort | novel approach for the determination of the height of the tropopause from ground-based gnss observations |
| topic | Lapse Rate Troposphere (LRT); Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD); GNSS atmospheric monitoring |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60013/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60013/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60013/ |