Experimental Observations of Precipitable Water Vapor over the Open Ocean Collected by Autonomous Surface Vehicles for Real-Time Monitoring Applications

Abstract

We report experimental observations of precipitable water vapor (PWV) derived using Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) receivers mounted on autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), which were deployed in the tropical Pacific Ocean from July to September 2018. The GPS atmospheric delay was estimated by precise point positioning and converted to PWV with ASV surface meteorological data. The GPS-PWV was in agreement with the PWV obtained from radiosondes, with a root mean square error of 3.02 mm and a mean difference of 0.16 mm. A similar accuracy was found in a comparison of GPS-PWV with satellite-based microwave measurements. In anticipation of real-time monitoring applications, PWV was also estimated using real-time clock and orbit data. These estimates were in agreement with the post-processing values. High-resolution temporal observations of PWV over the open ocean made possible by ASV technology could greatly improve our understanding of the rapid variations of developing convective systems.