Comparison of IGS and Radiosonde Determination of ZTD in the Canadian Arctic

R. Ghoddousi-Fard

Abstract:	Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) induced by the neutral atmosphere on GPS signals is a source of information for Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models and climate studies. Currently, the International GNSS Service (IGS) provides two types of tropospheric (neutral atmosphere) zenith path delay products: the Ultra-Rapid product with a latency of 2-3 hours and the final product with a latency of less than 4 weeks. The final IGS ZTD products are among the most accurate GPS ZTD products as they are derived from the results of all of the IGS processing centers. Although (due to the time latency) the final products may not be of use in NWP models’ data assimilation, they can be valuable data for climate studies. Furthermore, time series analysis of the GPS ZTD data may be used for spatial and temporal correlation studies. Approximately 34 months of GPS and radiosonde ZTD results for stations in and around the Canadian Arctic are compared. The results show an overall bias of 4.7 mm (GPS-RAOB) and a standard deviation of 5.8 mm which are comparable with studies carried out in other parts of the world. Long term analysis of differenced time series might help to model the error characteristic of the derived ZTD.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006) September 26 - 29, 2006 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	1936 - 1944
Cite this article:	Ghoddousi-Fard, R., "Comparison of IGS and Radiosonde Determination of ZTD in the Canadian Arctic," Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006), Fort Worth, TX, September 2006, pp. 1936-1944.
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