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Generalised Atmospheric Circulation Model

EFFECT OF TROPOSHERE

Attenuation
Scintillation 0.5 db
Delay (2 - 25 M)

75% of Total, rest

25% comes from
Tropopause region

Also varies with Elevation Angle and Gas density profile with
altitude

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The variation of pressure with altitude

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The refractive index of a medium, n, is defined as the ratio of the speed

of propagation of an electromagnetic wave in a vacuum, c, to the speed
of propagation in this medium, v:

c
n=
v

Usually instead of the refractive index n, the refractivity N is used as the

electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere propagate just slightly slower than
in a vacuum and it is given by

N Trop = 10 6 (n 1)
Hopfield (1969) shows the possibility of separating N into a dry
and a wet component

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The dry refractivity is directly proportional to atmospheric pressure and

can be accurately modeled. The hydrostatic refractivity can be expressed
as

where ,

P is the hydrostatic air pressure in mb and T is temperature in Kelvins

In the presence of water vapor and hydrometeors, refractivity can be modeled

with the aid of additional measurements. The wet refractivity of water vapor
can be expressed as (Smith et al., 1953).

where k = 64.8 Kmb-1 , k = 3.776x105 K2 mb-1 ,

Pv is the partial pressure of water vapor (e) in mb and T in Kelvins. So, Tropospheric
refractivity (N Trop ) will be

Actually the values of k , k & k

are empirically determined and
dependent of local situations

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Tropospheric Delay
Since the tropospheric refractive index is higher than unity varying as a function
of altitude, a wave propagating between the ground and a satellite has a radio
path length exceeding the geometrical path length. The difference in length can
be obtained by the following integral:

OR

Where N Trop is the tropospheric refractivity.

Delay Structure of Radio Waves

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The tropospheric delay can be separated into two main components:

Hydrostatic delay
Wet delay.
Hydrostatic delay is caused by the dry part of the atmospheric constituents and
can be estimated precisely using surface temperature and pressure measurements.
By removing the hydrostatic delay from the total tropospheric delay, the
remaining signal delay is called the wet delay,
About 90% of the tropospheric refraction arises from the dry and about 10%
from the wet component (Hofmann, 2001).

The slant tropospheric delays at arbitrary elevation angles can be expressed in

terms of the zenith delays and mapping functions. This representation allows the
use of separate mapping functions for the hydrostatic and wet delay components:

is elevation Angle of satellite

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Ground Based Method

Principle
Total Delay = Ionosphere Delay + Neutral Delay
Neutral Delay = Total Delay - Ionosphere Delay
Zenith Neutral Delay = Zenith Hydrostatic Delay + Zenith Wet Delay
Zenith Wet Delay = Zenith Neutral Delay - Zenith Hydrostatic Delay

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Noise for Some is the Signal to Others

GPS signals are slowed and refracted as they pass
through the Earths atmosphere.
Measurement of the bending angle produced by
atmospheric refraction provides the observable that is
the basis of space-based GPS meteorology.
Resolving the delay of GPS signals caused by the atmosphere
using the most accurate geodetic receivers provides the observable
that is the basis for ground-based GPS meteorology.

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GPS Meteorology
(Estimation of PRECIPITABLE WATER
Vapor in Atmosphere from the observed delay
from to troposphere

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END

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