Gps, occultation systems

Abstract

The GPS occultation technique offers unique capabilities in the remote sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere. It provides high vertical resolution, all-weather profiling data from the planetary boundary layer to the stratosphere that are valuable for a wide range of weather and climate applications. In particular, the measurements possess qualities that make them particularly useful for monitoring long-term climate change. The future of GPS occultation looks exciting, with a proliferation of GNSS transmitters from the European Galileo, Russian GLONASS, and Chinese Compass navigation satellites. Increased spatial-temporal coverage would especially benefit studies of tropical storms and other mesoscale phenomena.