GPS Performance in the Quantification of Integrated Water Vapor in Amazonian Regions

Luiz Fernando Sapucci, João Francisco Galera Monico, Artemio Plana-Fattori, Luiz Augusto Toledo Machado, Wagner Flauber Araujo Lima

Abstract:	The Amazonian regions are characterized by large space-time variability in the humidity fields due to the intense convective process in those areas associated with the great humidity potential generated by high temperatures. An experiment denominated RACCI/DRY-TO-WET (RAdiation, Cloud, and Climate Interactions in the Amazonia during the DRYTO- WET Transition Season) was carried out in the Brazilian Amazonian Region in 2002. The IWV values from GPS and other techniques, such as radiosondes, radiometer and humidity sounding satellites were used in this experiment to supply subsidies to evaluate the aerosols influence in the associated processes modifications to seasonality of atmospheric water vapor. Those regions are one of the most humid of the planet, where IWV (Integrated Water Vapor) average values are in the order of 50 kg/m2. As according the literature the IWV quantification using GPS has not been explored in those circumstances, the objective this paper is to present the preliminary results obtained in the evaluation of the GPS performance in Amazonian Regions when comparing with other techniques. The tendency measurement values indicated that the IWV values from GPS tend to be larger than those from radiosondes and smaller than those from radiometer. On the other hand, IWV values from GPS are very close of the average values supplied by radiosondes and radiometer. Due to the great amount of atmospheric water vapor existent in this region, the results obtained in the experiment in percentile terms are quite better than those found in the literature, which are around of 10%.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2004) September 21 - 24, 2004 Long Beach Convention Center Long Beach, CA
Pages:	2362 - 2369
Cite this article:	Sapucci, Luiz Fernando, Monico, João Francisco Galera, Plana-Fattori, Artemio, Machado, Luiz Augusto Toledo, Lima, Wagner Flauber Araujo, "GPS Performance in the Quantification of Integrated Water Vapor in Amazonian Regions," Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2004), Long Beach, CA, September 2004, pp. 2362-2369.
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