An assessment of the quality of near-real time GNSS observations as a potential data source for meteorology
Journal Title: Meteorology Hydrology and Water Management Research and Operational Applications - Year 2017, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) can be used to determine accurate and high-frequency atmospheric parameters, such as Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) or Precipitable Water Vapour (PW), in all-weather conditions. These parameters are often assimilated into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models and used for nowcasting services and climate studies. The effective usage of the ZTDs obtained from a ground-based GNSS receiver’s network in a NWP could fill the gap of insufficient atmospheric water vapour state information. The supply of such information with a latency acceptable for NWP assimilation schemes requires special measures in the GNSS data processing, quality control and distribution. This study is a detailed description of the joint effort of three institutions – Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław University, and the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – to provide accurate and timely GNSS-based meteorological information. This paper presents accuracy analyses of near real-time GNSS solution, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, and radiosonde profiles. Data quality statistics were performed for five GNSS stations in Poland over a time span of almost a year (2015). The comparison of near real-time ZTD and IGS shows a mean ZTD station bias of less than 3 mm with a related standard deviation of less than 10 mm. The bias between near real-time ZTD and WRF ZTD is in the range of 5 – 11 mm and the overall standard deviation is slightly higher than 10 mm. Finally, the comparison of the investigated ZTD against radiosonde showed an average bias at a level of 10 mm, whereas the standard deviation does not exceed 14 mm. Considering the data quality, we assess that the NRT ZTD can be assimilated into NWP models.
Authors and Affiliations
Natalia Dymarska
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP559186
- DOI 10.26491/mhwm/65146
- Views 61
- Downloads 0
Climate analysis as a basis for a sustainable water management at the Lusatian Neisse
Current and future climate conditions and their impact on water balance, eco systems, air quality and bio- and agro-climatology were investigated in the region of the Lusatian Neisse within the two EU-projects “NEYMO” an...
Models, manifestation and attribution of climate change
Results from a series of five surveys among five groups of international climate scientists about their evaluation of elements of climate models and of climate change are presented. The first survey was done in 1996, the...
The use of kernel estimators to determine the distribution of groundwater level
In this paper the problem of non-parametric estimation of the probability density function for hydrological data is considered. For a given random sample X1, X2, ..., Xn we define an estimator fˆn of the density function...
MeteoGIS: GIS-based system for monitoring of severe meteorological phenomena
The MeteoGIS system developed at the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute in Poland is a GIS-based system for real-time monitoring of weather and the generation of meteorological wa...
The September 2017 flood in Elbląg (Poland) in perspective
On the morning of 18 September 2017, the center of the city of Elbląg in northern Poland was inundated by the rapidly rising waters of the Kumiela River, resulting in considerable damage and chaos in the city. The presen...