Pierre Bosser

An Improved Mean-Gravity Model for GPS Hydrostatic Delay Calibration

The determination of global positioning system (GPS) heights with submillimeter accuracy needs proper correction of tropospheric delay. In this letter, the modeling of zenith hydrostatic delay (ZHD) was addressed, considering that wet delay must be treated separately. ZHD is traditionally estimated from Saastamoinens formula using a mean-gravity model and surface pressure observations. The uncertainty in ZHD associated with the mean-gravity model is about 0.3 mm. An improved parametric model is derived here, which yields an uncertainty in the ZHD less than 0.1 mm when the surface altitude lies in the range of 0-9 km. A second parametric model is derived for higher altitudes (such as above radiosonde observations or atmospheric models). Both parametric models depend on latitude, height, and time variables. This dependence is due to the link between the mean gravity and temperature profiles between the surface and ~80-km altitude. The uncertainty in the parametric models due to short-term temporal variability of the temperature profiles is shown to produce an uncertainty in ZHD smaller than 0.1 mm

Comparison of IASI water vapour products over complex terrain with COPS campaign data

In this work, we compare IASI-retrieved vertical water vapour profiles and related precipitable water over a complex region, namely the Rhine Valley area, during the pre-operational period of IASI exploitation (June?August 2007). Both IASI water vapour mixing ratio profiles and integrated water vapour content are retrieved from L1C radiances spectra using two techniques and compared with water vapour related observations acquired during the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) field campaign that took place in this area at that time (i.e. lidars, radiosoundings and a global positioning system - GPS - station network). This work addresses the issue of IASI vertical spatial resolution and its capability to detect two-layer water vapour structures such as those observed in a mountainous area and which play an important role in convective initiation or inhibition. We found that this capability mostly relies on the type of a-priori background vector (climatology or space-time colocated ECMWF analysis), which is used within the retrieval scheme. Systematic comparison of water vapour products derived from 71 IASI spectra confirms that IASI can retrieve water vapour amounts in 2 km width layers, in the lower troposphere, with an accuracy of approximately 10%.

Study of the statistics of water vapor mixing ratio determined from Raman lidar measurements

The statistical properties of atmospheric water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) determined as the ratio of Raman lidar signals backscattered from water vapor and nitrogen molecules are studied. It is shown that WVMR estimates can be biased by a small percentage at low signal photon-counting rates due to fluctuations in the nitrogen signal in the denominator of the ratio, the magnitude of the bias being linked to the signal-to-noise ratio of the nitrogen signal. This is particularly important when unbiased estimates are required as in the case of climate studies and global positioning system (GPS) signal calibration. Different bias corrections and a modified ratio formulation are proposed in order to correct or eliminate this bias. The method is successfully applied in processing signals obtained with an experimental Raman lidar system devoted to calibrate GPS signals for slant path delays. It is shown to reduce biases into negligible values in both WVMR and wet path delay estimates in the range interval of 0-7 km.

La campagne Cops : genèse et cycle de vie de la convection en région montagneuse

The Convective and Orographically- induced Precipitation Study (COPS) is a coordinated international project, comprised of an observational field campaign and a research programme aiming to advance the quality of fore- casts of orographically-induced pre- cipitation by four-dimensional obser- vations and modelling of its life cycle. The COPS field campaign took place during June-July-August 2007 over eastern France and south-western Germany. Its main objective was to provide an unprecedented comprehen- sive set of in situ and remotely-sensed meteorological observations of the entire depth of the troposphere. After a short overview of the project, the paper focuses on the French contribution to the COPS field phase, describes the experimental setup and highlights some key observations.

Calibration of Wet Tropospheric Delays in GPS Observation Using Raman Lidar Measurements

Water vapor measurements from a Raman lidar developed conjointly by the IGN and the LATMOS/CNRS are used for documenting the water vapor heterogeneities and correcting GPS signal propagation delays in clear sky conditions. We use data from four 6 h-observing sessions during the VAPIC experiment (15 May–15 June 2004). The retrieval of zenith wet delays (ZWDs) from our Raman lidar is shown to agree well with radiosonde (0.6 ± 2.5 mm) and microwave radiometers (−6.6 ± 1.2 and 6.0 ± 3.8 mm) retrievals.

Water vapour intercomparison effort in the frame of the Convective and Orographically‐induced Precipitation Study

The main objective of this work is to provide accurate error estimates for the different water vapour profiling sensors based on an intensive inter‐comparison effort. The inter‐comparison, performed in the framework of COPS—Convective and Orographically‐induced Precipitation Study (01 June–31 August 2007), involves airborne and ground‐based water vapour lidar systems, radiosondes with different humidity sensors, GPS and Microwave radiometers (MWR). Simultaneous and co‐located data from different sensors are used to compute relative bias and root‐mean square (RMS) deviations as a function of altitude.