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Assessment and Validation of Small-Scale Tropospheric Delay Estimations Based on NWP Data

Abstract

This paper investigates the applicability of the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data for characterizing the gradient of zenith wet delay in horizontal direction observed on short baselines over larger territories. A three-year period of data for an area covering Scandinavia and Finland is analyzed, and maximum gradients during the considered period are identified. To assess the quality of the NWP-based estimates, results for a smaller region are compared with the estimates obtained using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements processed by the GipsyX/RTGx software package (version 2.1) from a cluster of GNSS reference stations. Additionally, the NWP data from 7 to 9 August 2023 covering a period that includes a storm with high rain intensities over Southern Norway leading to sustained flooding are processed and analyzed to assess if the gradient of zenith wet delay in the horizontal direction increases significantly during such events. The results show that maximum gradients in the range of 40–50 mm/km are detected. When comparing NWP-based estimates to GNSS-based estimates, the tropospheric delays show a very strong correlation. The tropospheric gradients, however, show a weak correlation, probably due to the uncertainty in the NWP data exceeding the gradient values. The data captured during the storm show that while the tropospheric delay increases significantly it is difficult to see increases in the gradient of zenith wet delay in the horizontal direction using this data source and resolution.

Category

Academic article

Client

  • Research Council of Norway (RCN) / 305051

Language

English

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Digital / Sustainable Communication Technologies
  • The Norwegian Mapping Authority

Year

2024

Published in

Sensors

ISSN

1424-8220

Publisher

MDPI

Volume

24

Issue

20

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