Publication Date:
2019-08-28
Description:
The overall accuracy of the U.S. Navy Geosat altimeter wet atmospheric range delay caused by refraction through the atmosphere is directly assessed by comparing the estimates made from the DMSP Special Sensor Microwave/Imager and the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Ocean Center forecast model for Geosat with measurements of total zenith columnar water vapor content from four VLBI sites. The assessment is made by comparing time series of range delay from various methods at each location. To determine the importance of diurnal variation in water vapor content in noncoincident estimates, the VLBI measurements were made at 15-min intervals over a few days. The VLBI measurements showed strong diurnal variations in columnar water vapor at several sites, causing errors of the order 3 cm rms in any noncoincident measurement of the wet troposphere range delay. These errors have an effect on studies of annual and interannual changes in sea level with Geosat data.
Keywords:
SPACECRAFT INSTRUMENTATION
Type:
International Journal of Remote Sensing (ISSN 0143-1161); 14; 9; p. 1723-1733.
Format:
text
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