Search

The typical atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over the southeast (SE) Pacific Ocean is featured with a strong temperature inversion and a sharp moisture gradient across the ABL top. The strong moisture and temperature gradients result in a sharp refractivity gradient that can be precisely detected by the Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) measurements. In this paper, the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate (COSMIC) GPS RO soundings, radiosondes and the high-resolution ECMWF analysis over the SE Pacific are analyzed. COSMIC RO is able to detect a wide range of ABL height variations (1-2 kilometer) as observed from the radiosondes. However, the ECMWF analysis systematically underestimates the ABL heights. The sharp refractivity gradient at the ABL top frequently exceeds the critical refraction (e.g., −157 N-unit per kilometer) and becomes the so-called ducting condition, which results in a systematic RO refractivity bias (or called N-bias) inside the ABL. Simulation study based on radiosonde profiles reveals the magnitudes of the N-biases are vertical resolution dependent. The N-bias is also the primary cause of the systematically smaller refractivity gradient (rarely exceeding −110 N-unit per kilometer) at the ABL top from RO measurement. However, the N-bias seems not affect the ABL height detection. Instead, the very large RO bending angle and the sharp refractivity gradient due to ducting allow reliable detection of the ABL height from GPS RO. The seasonal mean climatology of ABL heights derived from a nine-month composite of COSMIC RO soundings over the SE Pacific reveals significant differences from the ECMWF analysis. Both show an increase of ABL height from the shallow stratocumulus near the coast to a much higher trade wind inversion further off the coast. However, COSMIC RO shows an overall deeper ABL and reveals different locations of the minimum and maximum ABL heights as compared to the ECMWF analysis. At low latitudes, despite the decreasing number of COSMIC RO soundings and the lower percentage of soundings that penetrate into the lowest 500-m above the mean-sea-level, there are small sampling errors in the mean ABL height climatology. The difference of ABL height climatology between COSMIC RO and ECMWF analysis over SE Pacific is significant and requires further studies.

Topics include: The Measurement (Physical retrievals based on time standards), GPS Retrieval Products, Retrievals and Radiances: CLARREO Mission, GPS RO and AIRS, GPS RO and Microwave, GPS RO and Radiosondes, GPS/GNSS Science, and Conclusions.

UNKNOWN

Radio occultation observations represent a planetary-scale optics experiment in which the atmosphere acts as a lens and alters the propagation velocity and paths of microwave signals passing through it.

Occultation measurements from the Global Positioning System (GPS) should improve upon this situation. Individual occultations yield profiles of specific humidity accurate to 0.2 to 0.5 g/kg providing sensitive measurements of lower and middle tropospheric water vapor with global coverage in a unique, all-weather, limb-viewing geometry with several hundred metres to a kilometre vertical resolution. The authors have derived water vapor profiles from June 21 to July 4, 1995

It is well known that the currently employed L1 and L2 GPS/MET frequencies (1.2 - 1.6) Ghz) do not allow for the separation of water vapor and density (or temperature) from active microwave occultation measurements in regions of the troposphere warmer than 240 K Therefore, additional information must be used, from other types of measurements and weather analyses, to recover water vapor (and temperature) profiles. Thus in data sparse regions, these inferred profiles can be subject to larger errors than would result in data rich regions. The use of properly selected additional GPS frequencies enables a direct, independent measurement of the absorption associated with the water vapor profile, which may then be used in the standard GPS/MET retrievals to obtain a more accurate determination of atmospheric temperature throughout the water vapor layer. This study looks at the use of microwave crosslinks in the region of the 22 Ghz water vapor absorption line for this purpose. An added advantage of using 22 Ghz frequencies is that they are only negligibly affected by the ionosphere in contrast to the large effect at the GPS frequencies. The retrieval algorithm uses both amplitude and phase measurements to obtain profiles of atmospheric pressure, temperature and water water vapor pressure with a vertical resolution of 1 km or better. This technique also provides the cloud liquid water content along the ray path, which is in itself an important element in climate monitoring. Advantages of this method include the ability to make measurements in the presence of clouds and the use of techniques and technology proven through the GPS/MET experiment and several of NASA's planetary exploration missions. Simulations demonstrating this method will be presented for both clear and cloudy sky conditions.

The radio occultation technique has been used to characterize planetary atmospheres since the 1960's spanning atmospheric pressures from 16 microbars to several bars. In 1988, the use of GPS signals to make occultation observations of Earth's atmosphere was realized by Tom Yunck and Gunnar Lindal at JPL. In the GPS to low-Earth-orbiter limb- viewing occultation geometry, Fresnel diffraction yield a unique combination of high vertical resolution of 100 m to 1 km at long wavelengths (approx. 20 cm) insensitive to particulate scattering which allows routine limb sounding from the lower mesosphere through the troposphere. A single orbiting GPS/GLONASS receiver can observe - 1000 to 1400 daily occultations providing as many daily, high vertical resolution soundings as the present global radiosonde network, but with far more evenly distributed, global coverage. The occultations yield profiles of refractivity as a function of height. In the cold, dry conditions of the upper troposphere and above (T less than 240 K), profiles of density, pressure (geopotential), and temperature can be derived. Given additional temperature information, water vapor can be derived in the midddle and lower troposphere with a unique combination of vertical resolution, global distribution and insensitivity to clouds and precipitation to an accuracy of approx. 0.2 g/kg. At low latitudes, moisture profiles will be accurate to 1-5% within the convective boundary layer and better than 20% below 6 to 7 km. Accuracies of climatological averages should be approx. 0. 1 g/kg limited by the biases in the temperature estimates. To use refractivity to constrain water vapor, knowledge of temperature is required. The simplest approach is to use the temperature field from an analysis such as the 6 hour ECMWF global analysis interpolated to the locations of each occultation. A better approach is to combine the temperature and moisture fields from such an analysis with the occultation refractivity in a weighting scheme based on the errors in each data field. A ID variational combinational approach has been developed at the UKMO. We win present results from both approaches from GPS/MET data taken in June and July 1995 and compare them with the ECMWF global 6 hour moisture analyses which are derived largely from TOVS and radiosonde data. Overall, the atmosphere below the 500 mb level appears somewhat drier in general than the ECNIWF humidity field. A 2-D (latitude vs. height) climatological snapshot derived from a 2-week span of GPS/MET data will be compared to the humidity climatology of Peixoto and Oort derived from radiosonde data from 1963-1973. Differences between the GPS results and Peixoto and Oort may be the signature of a climate trend over the past 30 years.

The presence of clouds dramatically alters the opacity and radiative transfer within Earth's atmosphere at both short and long wavelengths. Knowledge of cloud top and base is needed to estimate the Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) to space and the net radiation at the surface from a given atmospheric profile. Satellite observations are required to provide the global perspective needed for climate. Cloud top pressure can be determined to some accuracy from spaceborne radiance measurements when cloud opacities are sufficiently large and cloud top temperatures are sufficiently low to readily them from the surface. Cloud base is particularly difficult to determine from space. The relatively small sensitivity of long wavelengths must be used to penetrate the clouds while at the same time providing sufficient sensitivity to detect the cloud base. We are studying the indirect sensitivity of radio occultation observations to clouds through their impact on the refractivity structure. The tradewind inversion is an excellent example where a very sharp refractivity structure coincides with the top of the tradewind cumulus and stratus clouds. In general, any cloud with sufficient IR opacity will have large transmissivity gradient at cloud top (base) which will result in large cooling (heating) which will create a thermal inversion at cloud top (base). Both liquid and ice clouds can reach this critical opacity. The thermal inversion and sharp change in specific humidity will cause a sharp change in the refractivity gradient which can be identified in the radio occultation results, particularly the signal amplitude. The occultations yield very accurate information on the height of such features. The heating at cloud base drives convection causing the air to follow a moist adiabat within the Cloud which further helps constrain the interpretation of the observations. The upward expansion of such opaque clouds due to convection may be an important mechanism supplying moisture into the upper troposphere. We will present simulations using high resolution radiosondes from field campaigns representing the expected signatures of such features. We will also present initial results of comparisons between GPS observations and GOES-derived cloud tops to assess the utility of this concept.

The Atmospheric Moisture and Ocean Reflection Experiment - AMORE - is a proposed constellation of microspacecraft for atmospheric and ocean observation.

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN